Sky Child
by Zeldagirl367
Summary: "'I'm not a Sky-loaf-inian,' I told him. 'I'm a Kikwi.' 'Then why don't you look like one? ' Link replied." Hara has lived with the Kikwis for longer than she can remember, and learned to ignore the fact that she was a little different. But when two creatures just like her come to Faron Woods, Hara begins to question just who and what she is. Contains canon.
1. Chapter 1

I first spotted the creature early in the morning, and nearly fell from my tree.

I abandoned the berries I was trying to reach and inched further down my branch, trying to get a better look. It stood on two legs, like the Kikwi, but its legs were so _long_. Almost as long as mine! I looked at my own legs. It had the same leathery skin as me too, and no fur, except on its head. Its head fur was a different color than mine, though. The creature's was yellow and so smooth and pretty - I noted with disappointment that it was _not _like mine at all. My head fur wasn't nearly as soft, and it was all twisted up into skinny little curls. Plus, mine was a reddish-brown color.

For a second I envied the creature's pretty yellow color, but as I watched it some more, I decided that it looked like me in a bunch of other ways - like, its arms were the same, it had a nose just like mine, and to my amazement, _no tail. _

I got excited. I started to sidle my way back towards the trunk of the tree, but then stopped. Bucha always told us to go out in pairs, and I was alone. What if that thing was dangerous? I hugged the branch with my knees indecisively, watching the creature patter along the path. Erla would call me a scaredy-baba, but what did he know? There were all sorts of scary things in Faron Woods.

The creature began to move farther away, and afraid of losing it, I scrambled to a thicker branch and hopped to the tree beside it, watching the yellow fur swing as it moved. My body ached to climb down and talk to it. Was it a girl like me, I wondered? Or a boy like Erla? Maybe it was better not to risk it. I could almost hear Lopsa screeching in my ear - _No way! Too dangerous! Hide until it goes away!_

Reluctantly, I decided that I didn't know enough about it to approach it; all I really knew was that it kind of looked like me. But that didn't mean I couldn't follow it for a bit...

I moved from tree to tree as quickly as I could to keep up with it, but I still couldn't fathom what it was doing. It was just walking, staring around itself in awe. It passed right by _two _strawberry plants, and didn't stop to pick _any_. I reminded myself to go back there and get some later.

It ambled past the water hole and started up the hill. There wasn't a tree close enough for me to jump to, so I sat on my branch and watched it vanish around the corner.

Anxious not to lose it, I considered climbing down to follow on foot, when a loud noise shot through the air. I covered my ears and whipped around. _Monsters._

As soon as I glimpsed the red-skinned creatures coming my way, I stood and pulled myself to a higher branch, choosing a spot where the leaves were dense before looking down. The Bokoblin was still blowing delightedly on that horn, with maybe six or seven more behind it. They were waving their clubs around in the air, screeching. I wrapped all four limbs around my tree branch, shaking. What were they doing here? Bokoblins almost never came to the woods, except occasionally when they were desperate for a hunt - and when they hunted, they didn't go around blowing a big horn like that. What was going on?

I waited until they had passed my tree before quietly starting down. How many of them had come here? I wanted to check if the others were all right. I badly wanted to crawl into the hollow and hide with Bucha until they'd gone, like we usually did.

I began bounding as soon as my feet touched the grass, and for the time being, I forgot all about the creature.

I ran to the big oak tree, standing on the balls of my feet as I searched the bushes. "Machi?" I hissed. "Lopsa...anyone?"

I heard a faint _kwee _from the other side of the tree and followed it until I spotted Machi's little black legs poking out from beneath a bush. "Machi, it's Hara," I said.

Machi peeked, then his bush folded back inside his tail and he jumped up. "What are you doing, Hara?" he asked, hopping worriedly from one foot to the other. "You've gotta hide!"

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"I don't know," Machi admitted. "We were sunning together when we heard the horn, and we scattered. I hope they're safe..." He was still bouncing.

"I want to make sure they're okay," I said. "You should stay here."

Machi looked discomforted, but was perfectly happy to curl up and pretend to be a shrub again. I stuck to the shadows, searching the ground as I moved for likely hiding spots. Erla, Lopsa, and Oolo...any of them could've been...

I turned a corner too fast and didn't see the Bokoblins in time. One of them turned and let out a shriek in my direction, and five ugly Bokoblin faces turned to look at me.

I gasped, and started running.

Their heavy footsteps soon joined my light ones, and I looped around to run back the way I'd come. Panic surged through me, and I didn't dare look back. I sprinted over grass, weaving through trees and up hills. I heard a horn not very far behind me and cried out in surprise, gasping, and skidding around the cave to climb the hill. I got all the way to the water hole before I realized that their footsteps had stopped.

I spun in a circle, gasping for breath, but saw no sign of them. Heaving, I sat down by the water and threw my hands in, splashing my face. I didn't think I had ever been so scared...

And then I heard something touch the ground behind me.

My head snapped around, but it wasn't another Bokoblin. I jumped to my feet. I was standing a mere three feet away from the creature.

My eyes widened. No, it wasn't the same one as before. This was a different one, with shorter, darker yellow head fur and strange green pelts covering its body. And it was _bigger. _Much bigger than me.

It stared at me, and after a moment, took a step towards me. I unfroze myself and sprinted for the trees, scampering over a big rock. It called after me. "Wait!"

I clambered into the nearest tree and stayed there, pressed up against the trunk, shaking.


	2. Chapter 2

After a long time, I remembered the others, and carefully climbed down to continue looking for them.

I didn't see the creature again, thankfully. If it had been the other one, the first one, maybe I wouldn't have been so scared. But that one had just been so big. I looked down at my skinny body. It was nothing like its. That thing could probably snap me in half if it wanted to.

Now I really wanted to go back to Bucha. Poor Machi and Oolo and Lopsa and Erla...

"_Kweeeee_!"

I gasped. That sounded like Machi!

I ran back to the big tree and came to a screeching stop just at the top of the ridge. I saw Machi, curled beneath his shrub, quivering visibly. Two Bokoblins circled him, shrieking.

I froze, covering my mouth, and looked around. I had to do something. I had to do something before they...

The Bokoblins's heads turned, and before they could move, a green flash raced at them and something silver cut through the air.

It was so fast that I barely saw what happened. The creature cut down both of the Bokoblins without touching Machi.

I watched the silver thing swish through the air as the creature put it away. Sometimes Bokoblins carried things like that, but they were never as pretty as that one.

Machi peeked out from beneath his shrub, and let out a little squeak at seeing the creature. He jumped up and scampered off.

I let out a sigh of relief, sinking to the floor. I wondered why the creature didn't go after him. I turned my gaze to the creature, and found with a jolt that it was looking right back at me.

I swallowed, curiosity this time keeping me still. The creature tilted its head and smiled. "Hi," it called up to me.

I didn't answer, getting to my feet. It put out both of its hands. "No, no, no, no, wait," it said. I paused and watched it come a bit closer, but I didn't think it would be able to climb the incline fast enough to catch me. "It's okay," it said. "Don't be scared." It stepped closer again.

Something blue shot out from behind it, and I leapt back. It was a totally new creature, and a freaky one too.

I turned around and ran again.

The creature shouted for me but I kept moving, slowing to a fast walk. What was _that _thing? I had only gotten a short look, but it wasn't like me, and I was pretty sure it had been floating. I sighed. Bucha had been right...that creature must be dangerous if it was hiding _that_.

My feet carried me to the big temple ruins and I paused. No Bokoblins here, at least. I started towards the water.

A hand clamped down over my mouth and an arm wrapped around my body.

I shrieked and I started kicking, but my attacker lifted me off the ground with ease. "Finally got you, eh?" a voice said.

Fear ripped into me and I screamed into the hand but it stayed firmly pressed on my mouth. "I'm sorry for scaring you," it said. "But if you scream, you'll attract every Bokoblin within a mile of here."

I stopped struggling. I hadn't thought of that.

I was released suddenly, and surprised, I fell to the ground and rolled over. It was the creature standing over me, smiling like it had accomplished something. It held out a hand.

I stared at it. What did it want? I didn't have anything to give it...

It saw my confusion and smiled bigger. "It's to help you up," it explained.

I glared at it and tried to scramble away, but it reached down and grabbed my arm. "Ah, ah, ah," it said. "I want some answers." It pulled me back to my feet, examining me. "Do you speak?"

"I speak fine." I yanked my arm away from it.

It sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I grabbed you," it said. "But I can't figure out what you're doing here. You look just like a Skyloftian, but...there aren't supposed to be any down here."

It wasn't making any sense now. I looked for a way out, but it would probably just grab me again if I tried to go.

"My name is Link," it said after a moment.

_Link. _I repeated it silently to myself. "Is that a girl's name or a boy's name?" I asked.

Link frowned, blinking. "Um...it's a boy's name."

Aha, so this one was a boy! Interesting. "What's your name?" he prompted.

Uh-oh. I racked my head quickly for a name. "Melody," I said.

He didn't buy it. "You don't seen very sure," he said. "I think you're lying." He stepped closer and his fingers fixed around my arm again.

"I'm not lying." I tried to pull away. His grip tightened.

I met his eyes and they held me, staring out at me with a searching gaze. They were a clear blue, and somehow made me want to relax, but I blinked and glared at him again. "Let go of me," I said.

"Tell me your name."

I tried to wrench free again but his fingers were too strong. I pouted. "Hara," I mumbled.

Link let go of me. "See?" he said, grinning. "Was that so hard?"

There was a ringing sound and the blue thing shot out from behind Link again. I stumbled away and fell to the ground. Link looked exasperated.

"Fi," he said. "Must you?"

"Master, I have completed my analysis of this creature," the blue thing said. "I can conclude that she does indeed originate from Skyloft."

"What is that?" I asked.

"This is Fi," Link said. "She's harmless. Fi, are you sure about that?"

"I am 100% positive that this information is accurate," it said. "This girl is a Skyloftian."

"Thank you, Fi."

The thing vanished, and swallowing, I stood up. "I'm not a Sky-loaf-inian," I told him. "I'm a Kikwi."

"Then why do you look like you're from Skyloft?" Link replied.

"I don't know," I said angrily. "I just do. I'm a Kikwi and I always have been."

Suddenly, I went rigid, and I whipped around to examine the treeline. "What's wrong?" Link asked.

"Someone is watching," I whispered. I couldn't see anyone, but I could feel a pair of eyes practically burning on my skin, and I didn't like it. "I have to go," I said.

"Huh?" From the corner of my eye I saw Link dart for my shoulder, but I dodged him and zipped for the trees. "Hey!"

As I immersed myself in the cluster of trees and blooms, I began to feel better, chest loosening. No more playing around. I was going straight back to the hollow this time.


	3. Chapter 3

I wondered if I should tell Bucha about meeting Link. He would scold me for not staying hidden, but it felt wrong to keep it a secret. Besides, Erla would be impressed, I bet.

But Erla wasn't in the hollow when I got back. Bucha was there of course, sleeping, and Machi too, but I didn't see anyone else.

Machi jumped up. "Hara!" he squealed. "I was afraid you'd been eaten! Where were you?"

"I guess I got distracted," I said. "Bucha, wake up. Wake up!"

"_Kweee_?" Bucha mumbled, rolling his giant self over. I stepped back to avoid getting squashed, then grabbed onto his tail and used it to climb onto his stomach. I crawled over to his face. He let out a loud snore.

I giggled. "Bucha!"

With a snort, Bucha sat up, dumping me to the ground. "Nnn, who's that?" he said. I rolled over and got up.

"Hara, you're back, _kwee_," Bucha said. "Machi was worrying his little head off about you."

"I'm all right," I told him. "What about Erla, Lopsa, and Oolo?"

"Oh, no worries," Bucha yawned. "I sent a young man off to check on them."

"A young what?" I frowned.

"A man, Hara. Oh, that's right, I haven't told you - I met a man just like you! Except that he was, you know, a man, _kwee_."

"Just like me?" I repeated, eyes wide.

"I saw him too!" Machi squeaked. "He _was _like you, Hara! He saved me!"

_Is that what he's called? _I wondered. _A man? _"I met him," I said. "He said his name was Link." I turned to Bucha. "What did he say?"

"Oh, now that I think of it, I saw two of them," Bucha continued, not hearing my question. "There was a little girl, too."

Did he mean the first creature I'd seen from the tree? So it _had_ been a girl. I considered. That first creature had long head fur, and was a girl. Link had short head fur, and was a boy. I had long head fur, and I was a girl too. Ah! _That must be how you tell the difference,_ I thought. Girls had long head fur, and boys had short head fur.

"So they are called...mans?" I asked. Bucha shook his big head at me.

"No," he said. "Only the boy is a man. The girl is called a wohman."

"A wohman?" I repeated. "Am I a wohman too?"

"That's right," Bucha said.

"Woh-man." I scowled. "I don't like it. I'd rather be a Kikwi."

"Well, of course you're a Kikwi, Hara," Bucha told me, and I started to feel better. That was right. I was a Kikwi. Not one of those Sky-lan-inanins, or whatever Link had called me.

One by one, Erla, Lopsa, and Oolo returned to the hollow, all claiming to have met Link. They looked at me in curiosity as they talked about him, describing every detail and how extremely akin to my own self he was. I tried to change the subject. I liked being a Kikwi, and I wasn't going to let some stupid new creature ruin that. I hoped Link didn't show his face here ever again.

The Bokoblins were still hanging around the forest the next day, but there were less of them, so Bucha decided it was safe to go outside the hollow, as long as we were careful.

I took Erla with me and we went out to look for strawberries, and I showed him the plants by the path that I'd seen yesterday. Erla wanted to talk more about Link, but I avoided the subject. I had wanted everyone to just forget about it, but it was the first interesting thing to happen here in a while, so I didn't think they would.

While we gathered up the strawberries, I got the feeling again. Two eyes were staring straight through my back.

I turned around, searching fruitlessly for the watcher. I asked Erla if he had the same feeling, but he told me I was being a worrywart and that there was no one but us out here.

Erla began hobbling away with an armful of strawberries and I started after him, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't alone.

"Erla," I called. "I want to look over here for a minute. You can go ahead."

"Be careful," Erla sang back, lumbering down the path.

I put my strawberries down by the trunk of a tree and crept between the bushes. It was so strange...I'd never felt like this before.

_Fwish!_

I jumped and grabbed hold of the nearest tree, perching myself on a high branch before I realized that it had probably only been the wind. Feeling silly, I reached for the trunk when I heard a sort of jingling, popping noise and when I looked down, there was someone there.

I clapped a hand over my own mouth and had to grab onto the branch above me. It was another one. _Another one. _At least, I thought so.

This one was very slender, and white all over. I tried to figure out if it was a boy or a girl, but I saw that it had long hair on one side and short hair on the other, so I was stumped.

I let go of the branch above me and tried to get a better look. This one...where did it come from? I could tell it wasn't quite like Link. I swallowed. I couldn't move.

And then, its head snapped up and looked straight at me.

"Ah," I gasped, scrambling back. It smiled. I didn't like it.

"You are interesting," it said, stepping towards my tree. "You're yet _another _sky child, aren't you? Where did you come from?"

It vanished suddenly, in a spray of small red diamonds. I blinked. crawling forward.

I heard the popping sound again behind me, and when I turned, it was standing on my branch.

I screamed and lost my balance, smacking twigs and branches on my way down. I landed on my back.

It wasn't the first time I'd fallen from a tree, but the breath was knocked out of me and I couldn't breathe for a moment. It stared down at me, grinning. The branch it stood on didn't even shiver, as though it weighed nothing. "I must say, you were quite a surprise when I first laid eyes on you," it said. "But I'm sure that whatever you are, you'll be good for _something_." It stepped towards the thin end of the branch. Not even a quiver.

Catching my breath, I got to my feet, and it disappeared then reappeared in front of me again. "Running is no good, sky child," it said. "Now that I know you're here, I'll always be able to find you. Wherever you are, _I'll find you._" It let out a chilling laugh and came closer to me. "You might as well hand yourself over now."

I didn't know what to do, so I turned around and ran.

I could hear it laughing behind me, and suddenly it was in front of me again. I swerved, slipping on the leaves and almost falling but I managed to stay upright and burst back onto the path.

I ran all the way back to the hollow without stopping or looking back, and I heard its laughter in my ears the whole time.

I didn't tell anyone at the hollow about it. I told Erla that I'd been chased by some Bokoblins and had to drop my strawberries, and then didn't leave the hollow for the rest of the day.

_I'll find you. _What did that mean? How? _Why_? The thought of its face made me shiver, and its power...to magically transport itself wherever it wanted to be...that meant no matter where I hid, it could always get me. Nowhere was safe. I doubted that even the hollow was safe.

The next day I told the others that I felt sick and stayed with Bucha. I tried to think of what to do. Was there anything I could do? Any way I could hide, run away, protect myself...or was it completely pointless?

It was in my nightmares whenever I fell asleep, too. That laughing face. _I'll find you._

I was trapped.

The best idea I had came when Machi sauntered into the hollow and told me he'd seen Link again. I sat up. _Link. _I remembered watching him cut down those Bokoblins so quickly and easily. He hadn't even been scared. And I bet that creepy thing wouldn't scare him either. I gulped. If there was a safe place, it would be with him.

I looked around at the others. That meant I had to leave, and without even saying goodbye. They'd only stop me if they knew...but it was either that, or let myself get caught by that thing.

Taking a deep breath, I got up, and went out into the forest.


	4. Chapter 4

Link stuck to the path, so it wasn't hard to find him. I got nervous and just followed him for a while from a distance, gradually getting closer until I was standing behind a tree just a few feet away from him when he stopped suddenly to look around.

He had good instincts, I thought. Especially if he was able to detect me.

The blue thing, Fi, leapt out of thin air again. "Master," it said. "I am detecting the aura of the forest girl nearby."

"Thanks, Fi." Link looked around again, and then hesitantly called out. "Hara?"

I peeked out from behind my tree. Link glanced my way.

Swallowing, I quickly stepped out and bowed. "Um...hello," I said.

Link blinked at me. "Why are you following me?"

"Well..." I pushed dirt around with my bit toe, suddenly anxious. "I wanted to ask if...if you would..." I paused. "Are you going back to where you came from?"

"Yes," Link answered. "For the time being, at least."

"Will you...please...take me with you?"

Link looked surprised. "What...to Skyloft?" He frowned. "Why? You were scared of me before, and now you want to come with me?"

"I just...I want to see it," I lied. "You think that I come from there, and...I'm obviously different from everyone here in the forest, so I thought...you might be right." I blushed. "I want to see. That's all."

I was pretty proud of myself. I didn't think I'd ever told such a convincing lie. And Link believed it too, eyes softening, but he still seemed uncertain. "I'm just not sure if that's a good idea," he said. "No offense, but you're easily spooked. There are a lot of people up there, and a lot of things that would probably seem strange to you. Aren't you happier here?"

I came closer to him. "Please!" I begged. "I'm tired of always being different! I want to see the other people like me!"

Wow, I was doing well. I almost had him convinced. He sighed. "What do you think, Fi?" he asked, looking at the blue thing still hovering beside him.

"It is possible to bring this girl to Skyloft if you maintain close physical contact with her during air travel," Fi said. "I do not predict a high possibility of this impeding our current mission."

"Well..." He looked me over. "You _do_ realize that you won't exactly fit in. People are still going to look at you funny."

I pressed my lips together. "But all I want to do is see!" I wailed. "If there really are more people like me, then..." I let my eyes begin to water. "I'm begging you, please-"

"O-okay, okay!" Link put out both hands, looking dumbstruck. "Stop crying! You can come with me."

I wiped at my eyes, holding in my triumph. Tears always worked whenever I wanted something from Bucha. Link sighed again, and Fi retreated into the thing sticking up from behind him. "Come on, then," he said. "We've got a little ways to walk to the next statue."

Smiling myself, I skipped to catch up with him. "Where is it?" I asked. "Skyloft?"

Link pointed up, and I lifted my head to the sky, blinking at the clouds before I realized what he meant. "Up?" I said. "You mean...in the _sky_?"

He nodded, smiling a little. "It must sound so strange to you," he said. "Just like it was strange to me when I was told there was a land beneath the clouds."

_The clouds_... I looked at them again. Could that really be where I came from? Where I was born?

Well, it didn't matter, I decided. All that mattered was that creepy thing wouldn't be able to get me. Surely it couldn't reach me all the way up in the sky...right?

"Ah," I heard Link mumble. "There's one."

"Hm?" Link started moving faster, and surprised, I quickened myself to catch up, following his gaze. On the side of the path a ways down there was a stone carving, with the head of a bird on top. I frowned. Was _that_ all the was looking for? I'd seen a bunch of them. They were all over the forest. And they didn't do anything, they were just _there_, so I couldn't imagine what he wanted with one.

But Link approached the carving and motioned me closer, reaching behind him to remove a large white fabric from his pouch. "What's that?" I asked.

"You'll see," he replied. "Come on." He pulled me closer and suddenly put his arms around me, holding the ends of the fabric in both hands. I found myself pressed right against him. Startled, I tried to pull away.

"You have to hold tight to me," he said. I looked up at him. Why had his face suddenly tuned pink? "Sorry," he mumbled. "I know it's awkward, but Fi says it's the only way."

I wondered what "awkward" meant as I wrapped my arms around him.

There was a flash from the carving, and I heard a whoosh behind me, and when I tried to see what it was Link tightened his grip. Air gusted up from nowhere, right into my face, making my eyes water. I squeezed them shut.

Then I realized that my feet were no longer touching the ground.

My eyes flew open, and I looked down to see the forest rapidly shrinking beneath me. "Gah..." I was squeezing Link so hard that he probably couldn't breathe. I shut my eyes again, feeling my stomach lift, goosebumps prickling all over me as the wind carried us up and up and...

...down.

I opened my eyes again. We were falling.

My lips parted to prepare for a scream, but no sound came out. _Bad idea. This was a bad idea. _Link's fingers dug into my back as he removed one arm and let out a high pitched whistle.

Something took the air out from under me, and I gasped as I hit something soft and feathery.

Link held onto me to keep me from falling, turning himself around. I opened my eyes again. We were still up in the air, but sitting on the back of - what was it? Some sort of red creature with wings, and soft feathers. I blinked, and Link smiled at me. "Are you okay?"

"Hah...I..." I looked around, trying to decide if my eyes were lying to me or not. "We...we're flying..."

He grinned. "Hang onto me, okay?" he said. "We've still got a ways to go."

I clung to his waist, resting my head against his back and staring out at the blue sky, all around me, all around me...I never thought I'd be able to get so close to the clouds...

And the _birds_! They were huge, nothing like the ones in Faron Woods. We were riding one now, I realized. We were _riding_ on a _bird._ Of all the things...

I looked ahead, squinting. There was something else floating in the distance, but it was still shadowy from where we were. It definitely wasn't a cloud.

Even if I was amazed, I was also terrified. My arms coiled tighter around Link minute. The thing in the sky got bigger, and I began to see lumps and shadows poking up from it. Some of them looked like trees, but others were too tall and thick. As we got closer, they began to look a bit like the ruins back in Faron Woods - except not ruined.

The bird flew lower and landed itself on the floating island. Link reached down and tried to undo my grip on him. "This is it," he said. "Skyloft. What do you think?"

I had no words. There were so many _things_ to look at, things my mind searched for names for, but couldn't find any. Tall structures, pointed and colorful buildings, shiny, strong stones, and - above all - more _people_ like me just walking around, smiling, laughing, talking. My mouth was hanging open.

Maybe I had thought, in the back of my mind, that it was all a lie. The idea that there were more people like me seemed strange and almost silly, and seeing that other girl and meeting Link was exciting and interesting; but like everything else, I had assumed that they would pass out of my life and I would move on.

But instead, here I was, on a floating island in the sky, among real live people just like me.

Link laughed a little, and then slipped to the ground, holding out his arms to help me. I still managed to come down too fast and pain jarred through my feet as they hit a ground made of stone.

Link patted the giant bird on its giant beak, and I looked at it. Its beady eyes fixed on me curiously, and I quickly took a step back. "Ah..." I stuttered, then bowed to the beast. "Thank you very much," I said.

I looked to Link to see if that was okay, and saw him laughing at me.

"What?" I exclaimed, clenching my fists.

"N, nothing," he said, still chuckling. "Come on, let's go."

Link started towards where the people and buildings were, and with a last look at the red bird, I followed behind him.

We got closer to the pointed, meshy buildings. I stopped to try and peer inside the opening and saw a big clear sphere with a short person behind it. Strange smells wafted out at me, scents that made my nose tingle, but I wanted to go closer all the same.

But then, Link grabbed my arm. "Hara, come on. Don't wander off. I can't have you getting lost."

Disappointed, I let him pull me across the stone ground. There was some grass to the sides, but it seemed like I wasn't allowed to walk there.

We went up a lot of stone steps, to another big building. "Is this your home?" I asked.

"Yup," he answered. He rested his hand on something sticking out from the building. "Just stay close to me, okay? You were getting some funny looks earlier..."

"I didn't notice any 'funny looks'," I remarked. Link pulled on the round thing and the wall swung towards him, creating an opening for us to walk through.

The inside was very colorful and warm, and though I wanted to pause and look around, Link yanked me along. "You can explore later," he said. "I don't want anyone to - "

"Yo, Link," a voice said behind us. Link winced and turned. So did I.

I fought the urge to run away. I knew from encountering Link and walking through Skyloft that these people weren't dangerous after all, but this one was giving me doubts. I determined that he was a boy from his short, red head fur sticking up in the air. He was big, bigger than me, bigger than Linkn, maybe bigger than Bucha. I wasn't sure about that. He was looking at us with a puzzled expression.

"You..." He looked at me, frowning. "Why are you walking around with a half-naked girl?"

I realized that he must be a friend to Link, so I stepped forward and bowed. "Hello, I'm - "

Link snatched my arm yet again and yanked me backwards. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

He dragged me over to the wall and made it open like he'd done before and pulled me through the opening. "Oww," I complained, rubbing my arm.

Link closed the wall and turned around. "Rule one," he said. "You can't go around introducing yourself to everyone, okay?"

"Why not?" I frowned at him.

"People will ask questions, and...I haven't quite come up with a story for you yet."

"A story?" I shook my head. "What story? I'm from the woods. What's wrong with the truth?"

"It's complicated," he breathed, leaning against the wall. "Not everyone knows that the woods even exist, or that any kind of land below the clouds exists."

I stuck out my lip a bit, then turned to look at some of the things in the room. There was a big rectangular soft thing, which Link sat down on. "Still, though," he murmured. "I wonder what you were doing down there..."

"Mmm," I mumbled, uninterested. There was another tall thing, made of wood like from trees. I ran my hand along it. Somehow, the wood was smooth and shiny.

"There weren't any other humans down there, were there?"

"Course not," I replied.

"Then how did _you_ get there?"

"I was born there."

"No, you weren't. You had to have been born up here."

I turned around and glared at him. "How would you know?" I asked. "You weren't there."

"But you just told me that there were never any other humans in the woods."

"So what? That doesn't mean I wasn't born there."

Link stared at me. "You do know how babies are made, don't you?"

Now he was beginning to frustrate me. I clenched my fists. "You just think you're so smart, don't you?" I asked. "You think you know _everything_. You don't know anything about me, so - "

"Okay, Hara, please be quiet - "

"So you...you..." I grasped for a scathing insult. "You just shut up!"

Link was holding out his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said. "Keep your voice down, okay?"

I crossed my arms, mouth stuck in a pout. He sighed. "Anyway...we really should get you some clothes."

"Clothes?" I repeated, still glaring at him.

"To cover yourself. Like Groose said, you're kind of...half-naked."

I looked down at myself. When I was small I hadn't covered myself at all, but when I got older, Bucha had told me it was better for people like me to cover their "brests" and their "jenitols". So I had gathered scraps of soft things, like animal pelts and skulltullawebs and moss and woven them together to tie around myself, so I could cover the parts of me Bucha said I should. So I didn't see why I should cover _more_ of myself, but the other people I'd seen wore a whole bunch of other pelts all over their bodies, so I didn't argue.

"Fine," I said. "Where do I get...clothes?"

"I have an idea," Link said, getting up. "You stay here."

He opened up the wall again but paused, and looked at me over his shoulder. "So..." he said. "_Do_ you know where babies come from?"

I stomped my foot and yelled. "Get out!"

He quickly slipped through the opening and then closed it behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

Link came back with an armful of pink and purple pelts, which he dumped on the ground. "Here," he said. "Take your pick."

I knelt down and began rooting through the pelts, or "clothes". "Where did you get all these?"

"They belonged to my friend Zelda," he said, but then blinked and shook his head. "They _belong _to my friend Zelda. Um..." He looked away and seemed hazy. I tilted my head. "I'm...sure she won't mind if you borrow some. Anyway...I'll give you some privacy." He left.

I held up the oddly-shaped pelts, trying to figure out how they worked. There seemed to be a lot of words for me to learn...awkward, privacy, clothes...and then that thing about babies...

It took me a good while to learn how to use the clothes, but I did figure it out eventually. I picked some with a light pink color that covered my whole top, and then for my bottom, there were clothes with two long tubes and a hole at the top. I figured out that the tubes were for my legs. Soon, my top and half of my legs were covered. There had been tubes on the top too that I think were for my arms, but I thought that would be too warm, so I ripped them off.

I used the handle to open the wall like Link had done, and then stepped out to show him. "Did I put them on right?" I asked.

I got no answer for a minute, and looked up to see that his face had turned pink again. I thought I'd done something wrong. "What? Did I mess up?"

"No," he said, and cleared his throat. "It's just...you look nice." He swallowed, then looked around. "Come on."

"Where are we going now?" I asked him, following him towards the steps.

"I'm taking you to see the Headmaster," he said. "He'll know what to do. You'll be in good hands."

We started up the stairs, and I was about to ask him what he meant by that last thing when I heard heavy footsteps tromping down the stairs towards us.

He met us halfway, and when he saw us, he stopped. "Hey, Link," he said. He was the same big man who had stopped us earlier. "Who is this girl?"

"No one," Link mumbled and tried to go past, but the man grabbed his arm.

"I want an answer," he said. "Who the hell is she?"

Link tried to pull away, and suddenly, the man slammed him hard against the bar on the side of the staircase and held him by the neck. I gasped, raising myself on the balls of my feet.

"Answer me, you jerk!" the man said. "What are you doing walking around with some new girl?"

"H, hey..." I tried to speak up, but I didn't know what I could say.

The man ignored me. "And right after what happened to Zelda, too?"

Link tried to push him off. "Groose, just - "

"You are such a jerk, you know that? I should pound you so hard - "

"Hey!" I shouted, and without thinking I grabbed the big man's arm. The most I could do was grasp at it, since my fingers wouldn't go all the way around. "You...you leave him alone!"

He turned and loomed over me. He was even bigger than I thought, and he stared down at me with little eyes - little, stupid, eyes. Stupid meant instinctive, and a creature that relied only on its instincts was dangerous. This one was like an animal: dim-witted, and likely to pounce on anything without a thought.

I got scared. I sprung off the balls of my feet and raced up the stairs.

I heard Link yell my name, but I ran to the top of the stairs and all the way to the farthest wall. After a second, Link appeared at the top too.

I expected to see the big one come after him, but Link ran over and took my arm. "It's okay, Hara," he said, then quickly pulled me into another room.

The man inside the room turned at the sound of our entry. He was very tall and looked old. "Link," he said, sounding surprised. "You're back already? And...who is this?"

"Headmaster Gaepora," Link said, nodding his head as he caught his breath. "I..." He glanced at me. "This is Hara." He nudged me forward. "I found her...down below."

He was silent a moment, like he was thinking, and Link kept going. "You told me there would be no humans down there, but apparently, she's lived down there for as long as she can remember."

"I see," he said slowly. "How extraordinary." He gave me a little smile and held out a hand. "Come over here, Hara."

I didn't want to, but Link gave me a push, so I slowly went towards him. He took my shoulder and pulled me to face him, scrutinizing me. "Hmm..." A hand landed on top of my head to gently turn it left and right. "Did you learn anything about Zelda?" he asked Link.

Link was caught off guard, and stuttered a moment before looking away. "I..."

"You found nothing," Headmaster Gaepora said dryly, letting go of my head.

"No," Link protested. "Fi and I were following her for a while, but - "

Headmaster waved a hand to stop him. "You are doing all you can, I understand. I'm sorry. I'm just...worried."

"So am I," Link mumbled. "But anyway...what about Hara? I was hoping you could give her a room here, or - "

"Give her a room?" Headmaster interrupted. "No, no. Hara should go with you."

"Eh?" Link shook his head. "But that's way too - "

"It's no coincidence that you found her down there," Headmaster said. "Humans should not exist beneath the clouds, but since Hara did...I can only conclude that she must have a part in all this."

As they went back and forth, I watched, swiveling my head between them. I didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but I did understand one thing - wherever Link was going, he didn't want me to go with him. That made my stomach hurt a bit. I had been starting to like Link, but did he not like me...?

"Besides," Link was saying, and he looked at me. "Hara probably wants to return to the forest in a couple of days. Don't you, Hara?"

_Go back to the forest? _That reminded me of the other Kikwis that were probably getting worried about me. But the whole reason I had come to Skyloft was to get away from the forest, to get away from that thing...I looked at Link and shook my head vigorously.

Headmaster put his hand on my shoulder. "Fine. I won't tell you how to do your quest, but..." He smiled, giving me a little pat. "This girl _is _important."

When we finally got to leave the room, Link seemed angry with me. I chewed on my lip. "Why...why don't you want me to go with you?" I asked.

Link stopped and turned around. "It's not that I don't want..." he didn't finish that thought, then started again. "It's just...too dangerous for you. You'd be scared."

I stood up straighter. "I wouldn't!" I argued. "I might've been scared of things in the beginning, but now I'm not!"

"Hara, you wouldn't like it," he tried to tell me. "You don't know anything about what's out there. You'd only get in the way."

My breath escaped when he said that last thing, and my stomach started hurting again. My face felt hot. "You...think I get in your way?"

Link's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, but he didn't answer. Suddenly, I didn't want to look at him anymore. I glared at the floor.

"F...fine," I said. "I didn't want to go on your stupid quest anyway."

I marched past him back to the stairs. I heard him turn around. "Hara, wait..."

I didn't hear anything else. I went down the stairs and found the opening that went outside, and slipped out into the nighttime.


	6. Chapter 6

The sun was starting to sink, but I could still see some activity buzzing in the place with all the buildings. I stopped, nails digging into my palms. Stupid Link...

I took a deep breath and tried to forget about him. He was dumb. What did he know anyway? I _would _be useful. I knew how to track things, how to forage, how to mend wounds, and I was lighter on my feet than _he _was. In fact, _he'd _probably get in _my_ way!

_Dummy. _I shook my head. Never mind him. At least now was my chance to explore.

I ran down the steps to the pointy building. It was less crowded than it had been earlier, at least, and this time I got to go inside the meshy building. It was hot inside, and the smell from before was gone, but the sights made a wide grin spread over my face. I saw the person with the big clear ball again, and beside that, a bunch of big bowls with different colors of smoke rising from them. I saw some men stuffing a brown broth into their mouths, and a very odd-looking man with a bunch of silvery, shiny things.

This man's strange appearance made me curious, so I went a little closer to him. He had dark skin, and a very round nose, but the top half of his face was paler, and his eyes did not look like a human's.

He looked up and seemed to notice me staring at him. I was prepared to back away, but a big, friendly smile appeared on his face. "Well, don't just stand there gawking, missy! Come on over!"

His voice boomed, but it was so friendly that I didn't mind going closer.

"Well," he said loudly. "I don't think I've seen you around before! I'm called Gondo. You are?"

He held his hand towards me. "I am Hara," I told him, and uncertainly, took his hand. He immediately bounced my arm up and down before letting go. I smiled.

"You like this?" he asked, tapping on the strange contraption he'd been working on. "I saw you looking at it over there."

"What is it?" I reached out to touch. Gondo nodded his approval, and I ran my finger along the side. It felt like stone.

"This here," Gondo told me, "is a genuine robot." He gave it a good pat.

"A..ro-bot?"

"Yes, ma'am. Once upon a time this little guy could move and talk and do things all on his own!"

I frowned. "But...it just looks like a rock."

Gondo rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...he's a little broken at the moment. I've been trying to fix him up, but...well, it seems like I don't have the right materials." He smiled cheerfully. "But, I'll keep trying anyway!"

My eyes surveyed all of the silvery objects and funny-looking shapes in front of him. "You must be very good at fixing things," I observed.

That made his smile get even bigger, if that was possible. "I don't like to brag," he purred, "but with the right materials, I can repair or improve most anything."

"Hara!" I heard my name being called and turned. "_Hara_!"

_Link_, I thought, and scowled. I turned back to Gondo. "It was very nice meeting you," I said. "I have to go now." I started for the opening across the room, but stopped and smiled at Gondo over my shoulder. "I hope you fix your funny robot!"

I ran back outside through the other opening. It was a bit darker now, and I walked around on the stone ground until I was sure I was far away from where Link was. I still wasn't going to talk to him. He could look for me all night, for all I cared. He wouldn't find me. I was better at hiding than anyone.

The other people were still out, but some of them seemed to be going inside now. The sun wasn't quite past the horizon yet, but now that it was near nighttime, I could see a bunch of sparkling lights in the grass across the island.

I stared a minute. Faron Woods was never this pretty at night...it made all of my breath come out.

But I only got to admire it for a few more seconds. A hand grabbed my arm, right in Link's favorite arm-grabbing spot. I whipped around to smack him away and yell.

It wasn't Link. It was the big one. The _really_ big, stupid one.

I was too stunned to act. He narrowed his small eyes and yanked me in close, staring at me intently. "_Who are you_?" he hissed.

I opened my mouth, but the only thing I could get out was air. I wanted to scream, but that would attract attention, and the other people here would probably ask me the same question. Besides, he was so big, I was afraid of what he might do if I made a sound.

"Um..." I finally managed to speak. "I...I..."

"You're not from Skyloft, are you?" he growled.

I couldn't tell him the truth, I remembered. Link had been worried about that before. But I was mad at Link, so...maybe I should tell him.

I couldn't make the words come out. Link had acted like it was really important that no one find out...

"I...I am from Skyloft," I lied.

"No way," he said. He still wouldn't let go of my arm. "No way. I've never seen you before in my life."

"Th...that's because..." I tried to think of another lie, but it wasn't coming.

"What, are you gonna tell me you've been living on some other island?"

"Yes," I said quickly, relieved.

"Which one?"

"Eh?" I blinked. "Um...the one...over there." I pointed vaguely across the island to the darkened sky.

"What..." He frowned, forehead scrunching up. I tried again to pull free, but he held tight. He was beginning to look frustrated. "I know." He gave my arm a yank and started pulling me away.

"H-hey!" I tried to protest. "Let go!"

"If you're from Skyloft, then you've got a Loftwing," he said, sounding triumphant. "And now, you're gonna prove it!"

"L-Loftwing?" I breathed. He pulled me across the grass towards some ground made of wood, sticking off the edge of the island. He pushed me onto it and I gasped, reeling backwards. "I almost fell!" I complained.

"Well, if you did, your Loftwing would catch you, wouldn't it?"

_What... _Maybe he meant those giant birds? Like the one Link and I rode. He was still watching me expectantly. "Well, go on," he said. "Show me your Loftwing. Jump."

"_Jump_?" I repeated.

"That's right."

I stared at him, then turned to look over the edge. I didn't _have _a Loftwing, so if I jumped, I seriously doubted that one of them would catch me...

The wind swirled, and I suddenly felt dizzy.

"What are you waiting for?" he shouted. "Prove it to me!"

I was paralyzed. The wisps of clouds below were a dark purple, and seemed to float towards me on the wind. I looked at my hands - they were pale white. When the man spoke again, I started. "What's the matter?"

I shook my head, the wind swaying my whole body. I had to tell him. I had to just tell him the truth. I...

"Hara! Hara!"

I gasped and turned around, relief washing over me. Link ran towards us, eyes wide. "Hara, what are you - "

"Stay out of this, Link!" the big one shouted.

Link stopped. "Groose?"

"If she's really from Skyloft, she can prove it! She can show me her Loftwing!"

"Wha..." Link looked between me and Groose, then clenched his fists. "You...you idiot!" he shouted. "_Loftwings can't fly at night_!"

Groose blinked, and said nothing.

Link stormed towards me. I expected to be roughly yanked away again, but he was very gentle when he put an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, Hara..."

"Hey, Link."

Link glared at Groose over his shoulder. I looked too, and flinched at the way his eyes landed on me. It was the same look that had been in the Bokoblin's eye when it had seen me in the forest. Groose scowled.

"You're up to something really weird," he said. "And I'm gonna figure out what it is."

Link didn't answer, and instead began guiding me away from the edge of the island.


	7. Chapter 7

I followed Link back to the building he lived in, keeping my head down. He still hadn't said a word to me. My entire face was hot. After all that hiding from him and being mad at him, I still had to be rescued by him...how embarrassing.

He opened the wall to his room and led me inside before closing it behind him. My face was still burning, and I waited for him to scold me, but instead he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh.

"Thank Hylia I found you…"

I looked up in surprise. Link came away from the wall, shoving his hands through his head fur. "Hara, you had me so worried."

Hunching my shoulders, I looked back down. "I didn't say anything about the forest."

"The forest? Hara, Groose could've _killed _you. I don't care what you said to him, I'm glad that you're not hurt."

I looked down. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He sat down. "It's my fault. I probably should have thought this through some more. I'm...sorry about what I said earlier, too."

I met his eyes, smiling a little. "It's okay."

"Pfff…" He let out a huff, falling backwards on the big soft thing. "I've never said anything like that to Groose before," he mumbled. "I'll probably pay for that sometime. But...this means I definitely can't leave you here."

I sat on the floor by his soft pad. "So I can come with you after all?"

"Yup." Suddenly, he sat back up. "Maybe you will like it. After all, you'll get to see a lot of new things."

I smiled, a little bigger, and took hold of his hand. "Do you want to be friends?"

"Huh?" Link looked taken aback. "Um...yeah. Sure, we can be friends."

I beamed, and though he still seemed uncertain, Link smiled back.

Apparently, the big thing in his room was called a "bed" and apparently you were supposed to sleep on it. Back at the woods, we all used to curl up on the ground next to Bucha and sleep, but when I told that to Link, his face turned red and he said that humans didn't do that.

Link really didn't want to sleep with me, so I let him take me to his friend Zelda's room for the night.

The bed wiggled and sank when I got on it and whenever I moved. Even when I laid still I felt like it was trying to eat me. I stared into the darkness. So this was where this Zelda person slept. Everyone seemed very interested in Zelda, Zelda, Zelda…

I turned over, wincing as the bed moved. So where _was _this Zelda? Lost? Or...dead?

I tried to go to sleep but couldn't stand the bed shaking and creaking, so I got up and moved to the floor. That was much better; the ground at least didn't wiggle.

The next morning, I found Link's room open and peered inside. "What are you doing?"

Link was on the floor, shoving some things into a bag. "Oh. Morning." He pointed to two weird objects nearby. "Put those on. They go on your feet."

I frowned at the things. They were brown, and had holes in the tops. I guessed that I was supposed to put my feet in the holes.

I slid one of my legs inside. It encased my ankle and half of my lower leg, and my foot could move around freely inside. I put my other leg inside the other one.

It felt warm and secure, and I didn't mind it until I took a few steps. The top of it clunked against my foot, and I kept sliding around. I scowled at Link. "I don't like these."

He sighed heavily. "You have to wear them."

"They'll slow me down," I complained. "And they'll be _noisy_."

"Well, you can't go walking around the volcano in bare feet," he murmured, closing up his bag.

I tilted my head at the new word, and Link turned around. "Uh...volcano," he said, seeing my confusion. "It's...it's a mountain with fire inside."

"Really?" I felt my eyes get big. I had never heard of anything like _that_. "A mountain that spits fire? Like a...a…" I tried to remember the word. "A dragon?"

"Eh...sort of. Not quite." Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he stood up. "Anyway, you'll burn your feet if you don't have shoes on."

He left the room and I followed him, unhappily clunking in the shoes. "Now where are we going?"

"We're leaving."

"What? Already?" I tripped a little, then stumbled to catch up with him as he walked outside. It looked like it was pretty early in the morning, with the sun shining brightly in the low sky and the droplets of water decorating the grass. The island was still quiet.

Link took me across and whistled for his Loftwing. It came almost immediately, giving Link a friendly nudge and leaning its beak towards me, as if to try and smell me. I bowed to it again and said hello.

Within a couple of minutes, we were flying across the brightened sky towards a shining pillar of red light. I didn't hold quite so tightly to Link this time. Now that the initial terror was gone, was it strange that I found the experience of racing through the air miles above the ground and the clouds themselves exciting? I even had the urge to let go of Link and spread my arms out wide, but after a moment of thought, I decided I wasn't quite that brave yet.

When it was time for falling again, I didn't mind that quite as much, but still held onto Link's hand, heart racing.

We landed safely, and on rough, light brown rock. I instantly scanned the surroundings.

I was disappointed, to say the least.

There was just brown rocks as far as you could see. Not a patch of grass anywhere, and I couldn't see any trees either. This was not what I had imagined when Link had promised me a fire-breathing mountain.

Fi appeared and rambled off her "analahsis". When she was done, I asked Link where the "volcano" was.

He pointed straight ahead. "Right over there. Don't you see it?"

I realized he was pointing at the tall mountain not far away. I frowned. "It has no fire."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But that's a good thing for us. If it were erupting, we'd be in trouble."

I supposed that was true. Still...I sighed. Link took out his sword and pointed it. "Fi," he called. "Dowse for Zelda."

A ringing sound started coming out of the sword. _Zelda again, huh? _"Who is this Zelda?" I asked, following as he started moving down the incline.

"My friend," Link mumbled, pausing and swinging the sword around a bit. The ringing got faster. "She got...well...she fell," he said. "During a storm, she got pulled down to the ground. I've been looking for her ever since…"

I thought, watching him turn the sword a bunch of different directions. His expression had changed. I had friends too-like Machi and Erla. I cared about them very much, and I worried about them when I thought they were in danger. But this...this look on Link's face was something...more. I couldn't think of a word for it.

But before I could try, I heard the familiar blast of a horn behind us.

Link and I both turned. _Bokoblins? _They were here, too? Instinctively I prepared to spring away, but Link put a hand on my arm. The other strange expression was gone, and now he was grinning. "Don't worry," he said. "Those guys are nothing."

He waited until they ran into view. I counted five. And to my surprise, he ran right towards them.

He was fast. _Swish, swish, swish. _His blade whipped through the air and took them all down within a minute.

My eyes widened. There was no doubt that I'd made the right choice in leaving the forest. If Link could take down so many of them in the blink of an eye, I definitely wanted to stay close to him.

Link turned to give me a triumphant grin, but it vanished with only a second and his eyes got big. "Hara - !"

Something hit me on the head hard, and everything turned black.


	8. Chapter 8

My head hurt. A lot.

It took me a couple of tries to get my eyes open, and when I did, it made my head hurt more. "Nnn," I moaned. "Link…?"

He wasn't here. Everything looked strange for some reason… _Am I upside-down? _I was. I was also bouncing…

I lifted my head a little, and saw the ugly red feet of a Bokoblin behind me. After another second, I realized that there was a whole group of them, and that I was slung over one of their shoulders.

For a second, I was paralyzed.

Then I jerked and started screaming, kicking, and flailing. The Bokoblin threw me to the ground and something clunked me on the head again.

My vision turned black for the second time and I felt myself being lifted off the ground and thrown back over a shoulder.

My eyelids drooped, and I fell back into the darkness.

I woke up again with another headache, and this time, I was lying on the ground.

I slowly sat up. I was on the rock, but there were some meshy, slanted walls on all four sides of me. I was alone, and I found a strange gray circle around my wrist that was connected to a long stick in the ground next to me.

Where was Link? Had the Bokoblins gotten him too? I hadn't seen him when I'd woken up earlier, but…

I had to find him. Especially before the Bokoblins boiled me and ate me.

I grasped at the gray circle. It was cold, and hard, but I worked to pull my hand out. It hurt pretty badly, but after a couple minutes of wriggling and pulling I managed to slip it out. Carefully, trying not to make noise, I crawled towards the slit in the mesh and peered into the open. They must have carried me far away, because I could see the edge of a cliff just to the left, and there were Bokoblins everywhere. I gulped when I saw a pot nearby.

There was a fence several yards away where the camp seemed to end, but I wasn't sure if I could run to it or not. I swallowed and braced myself. Now was as good a time as any to start being brave…

There was a little _ping_, and a strikingly familiar figure appeared in the middle of the camp.

I gasped, reeling backwards. It was _the thing, _the thing that had chased me in the forest. It was here. _Why was it here? _Fear filled every part of me and I felt frozen where I was, staring through the slit and watching the pale, slender figure glide over the rock.

I had to get out. _Right now._

Helplessly, I watched the thing move over to the Bokoblins by the pot, and to my alarm, one of the Bokoblins pointed straight over to me. I backed away further. They hadn't been planning to eat me after all–this was worse. They were giving me to _that_…!

It started towards me, and as feeling returned to my body I made a quick decision, and ran right there.

Its arm whipped out and caught me in the stomach, scooping me into the air. I kicked and started screaming. "_Let me go, let go_!"

It laughed, pinning my arms to my sides, and leaned down close to my ear. "I told you I'd find you," it hissed.

Desperate, I opened my mouth and let out the loudest scream I could manage.

"Hey!"

All heads turned, including mine. The speaker was standing atop a tall rock overlooking the camp, hands on hips, long yellow head fur swinging. _Is that the girl from the forest…_?

"It's me you _really _want, isn't it?" she called. "So come on! Come and get me!"

The thing's head snapped up, and it started yelling at the Bokoblins. "You fools! Get her!"

My arm swung out and struck the thing in the chin, and it released me in surprise. I shot for the fence, stumbling in the "shoes" Link had given me. Another horn sounded behind me. I ran to the edge of the ravine and slid, tumbling over the rocks before I regained my footing and landed on flat ground.

A hand slipped into mine, and I turned to find myself staring at the same girl. "This way!" she told me, pulling me towards a cavern.

I half-heartedly tried to pull away, but after a second I decided that going with her was a better choice than being caught by the Bokoblins again and let her drag me inside the mountain.

Hot air filled the entire cave like there was a sun inside it, and the girl pulled me out of view of the opening. I studied her. She _was _the same girl I had seen in the forest, though she was wearing different pelts now. She smiled warmly at me. "It's okay," she whispered. "I won't hurt you."

She suddenly put a finger to her lips, and I heard the pounding footsteps of Bokoblins running past the cavern. We waited until they had passed before relaxing. "Hi," she said, voice still low. "I'm Zelda. What's your name?"

_Zelda? _The girl Link had talked about? So this was her…? "H-Hara," I replied, and realized that my entire body was still shaking. But this girl...even though it went against all my instincts, she made me want to relax.

She took both of my hands in hers, and I didn't try to pull back this time "I'm really glad we met," she whispered. "You and I should stay together. We'll be stronger that way."

"Huh?" What was she talking about? "Wh-what do you mean? You and I…?"

Zelda's grip on my hands loosened, and her eyes became puzzled. "Don't you know who you are, Hara?"

A shriek pierced the conversation from somewhere left of us, and we both turned to see a Bokoblin standing there, reaching for its horn. Like a flash, Zelda had left my side and she charged at the monster, her foot flying out and sending it to the ground.

She turned. "I guess it'll have to wait," she panted. "You should go. I'll hold them off."

I blinked at her and shook my head. "But…"

"There's no time to argue," she pleaded. "Just go!"

Startled by the tone in her voice, I turned around to run, but she called my name again. "Hara!"

I paused. Zelda gave me a weak smile. "Please...say hello to Link for me, okay?"

"Oh? Ah…"

Zelda vanished deeper into the cave, and I didn't get to say anything else. And besides, another faint voice calling my name had begun to echo over the rocks behind me.

I whipped around and started running towards it, jumping over rocks and sliding down the incline. "Hara!" Again, louder. "Haraaaa!"

I paused, grinning in relief. "Link!"

Link slid around the corner, panting, and before either of us could say anything, I ran at him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I felt his arms grab me around the waist and he pulled me closer to him. "Thank the gods, Hara. You're okay?" He pulled away and put both hands on my shoulders, examining my face. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

I shook my head. His grip loosened and slid down to my forearms, as he let out a sigh and bowed his head. "I'm so glad. That was my fault...I'm so sorry, I –"

"Zelda says hello," I told him.

Link blinked at me. "What?"

"Zelda...told me to tell you that she said hello."

He grabbed my shoulders again, fingers tightening. "You saw Zelda?"

I gave a short nod, and his eyes widened, and he gripped me so hard and with such urgency that it hurt. "What...just now? Where is she?"

I looked up the ravine, from where I had just tumbled down. "There was a cave...somewhere over there, where I met her…"

He stared at me, wide-eyed, and then looked up the ravine, swallowing. "So...she's...she's okay?"

Again he had that look on him, and that sort of overwhelming concern in his eyes that made something in the deepest part of my stomach hurt a little bit. "She's okay," I told him. I thought about mentioning that she was fighting off Bokoblins, but I thought that might only make him worry more.

Link didn't say anything for a moment, staring up the wall of rocks, and then he turned back to me. "Are you sure you want to keep going?" he asked. "After what happened. Even if you're close to me, I can't guarantee it won't happen again. I can always take you back to Skyloft…"

Alarm rushed through me and I shook my head vigorously. "No!" I said quickly. "I'm fine! I've seen Bokoblins before at the forest, and I know they're really stupid. It wasn't hard to escape." I forced a smile. "No big deal."

"Okay…" Link still looked unsure.

"Don't worry," I told him. "I feel safer when I'm with you."

He made a soft noise in the back of his throat, and turned a little bit pink. "Right...well, let's go. But make sure you stay close to me, okay?"

"Okay." My smile came by itself this time, and it was big. _Stay close to me, okay? _Those words were echoing around my head as Link and I started around the wall to look for an easier path, and they made me really happy. I'm not sure why. I guess, for some reason, the idea of staying close to Link sounded really good to me.


	9. Chapter 9

Two giant voles with broad shoulders and claws like a hawk's popped up out of the dirt in front of us and I leapt back, grabbing hold of Link's arm.

"Whoa! Now there's a green one!"

Link stepped back, and I peered out from behind him. I didn't think he'd ever seen anything like this before either, since he looked so surprised. The two creatures hadn't made any moves towards us, though – in fact, I decided that they were so stuck in the ground that they would be pretty slow if they were going to attack, so I relaxed a bit.

"Er…hi?" Link regarded the two creatures for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yo," it said. "One of your guys just came charging through here. Dressed all in black! That a friend of yours?"

"Another person like me?" Link repeated, and his eyes widened. "What did she look like?"

I tapped Link's shoulder. "Zelda wasn't wearing black," I whispered.

"Oi!" the vole straightened, trying to look around Link. "There's another one! Whatcha hiding for? We ain't gonna bite!"

"It's okay, Hara," Link said, nudging me out from behind him. "You sure Zelda wasn't in black?"

I nodded. "Definitely. She was wearing white."

"I dunno anything about that," the other vole said. "But you see that up ahead?" It pointed down the path we had been walking, to where there was a big crevice in the ground. "That's what we all a drop-dead end, but this character danced right over it. Seriously? Jumping over a gap like that? My jaw hit the dirt."

I took another look at the gap. The vole kept on talking. "The mountains ahead are crawling with those red troublemakers, but…I gotta feeling that shady so-and-so is gonna zip right on by 'em."

By "red troublemakers" I expected he meant Bokoblins, and swallowed a bit. Across that gap must've been where I had ended up before when they had caught me. We hadn't been able to go back up the way I'd slid down, so we had been following this path hoping there was another way.

But I didn't know how we were going to cross that gap…

"Can you imagine treasure-hunting with someone who could do that?" the vole kept going. "You got yourself some good friends, don'tcha?"

"I'm not so sure that sounds like a friend," Link mumbled. "Come on, Hara, let's go."

I blinked in surprise. "But what about the gap?"

He turned and suddenly grinned. "I have a few ideas."

I waved goodbye to the voles, but they just looked at each other and went back into the ground, leaving only a mound of dirt behind them. I almost wanted to go back and look, but Link had already started ahead for the gap, so I trotted to catch up with him.

There was a big tall tree without leaves right in front of the gap, and when I looked up at it I saw a Bokoblin perched directly on the top. I opened my mouth to tell Link, but then caught a glance of his face and for some reason didn't. He looked like he was thinking really hard about something.

Anyway, the Bokoblin didn't seem to notice us, so I guessed it didn't matter. Link paused for a minute, then turned to me, held a finger to his lips, and motioned for me to follow.

I raised myself onto the balls of my feet, so that the shoes wouldn't clunk on the rock, and followed him closer to the tower. I looked nervously at the Bokoblin, but it wasn't paying a whole lot of attention.

Link touched my arm. "See this?" he whispered, pointing to a dark blue, round flower sprouting out of the ground. "This is called a bomb flower. You ever seen one?"

I stared at it for a few moments, and then shook my head.

"They explode when you pick them," he explained. "So...if we put one at the base of that watchtower, it'll get blown over and make a bridge for us to cross with – plus the Bokoblin will be taken care of."

I looked at him in surprise, but before I could say anything about his plan, he reached down and yanked the bomb flower out of its roots.

It instantly began buzzing and I could feel heat coming off of it, and I leapt back. Link tossed the flower towards the tower and then grabbed my arm to pull me a good distance away. He covered his ears, and so did I.

The entire flower went up in flames and smoke, and I couldn't help a startled gasp. It made a boom so loud that my ears rang for a second, but just like Link had said, the tower wobbled and tipped itself right over the gap, and sent the Bokoblin to the ground. It didn't move.

We climbed on top of the tower and carefully walked across. Link just ran right over like it was no big deal, but standing over that big black hole made me nervous, and I put both arms out to help me keep my balance.

After a lot of climbing and running and walking, and also a lot of Link fighting off Bokoblins, we got the top of a big hill where there were colored stones laid out on the dirt, and a big, solid gate embedded inside the rock.

Link pulled out his sword and told Fi to "dowse for Zelda" again, and there was a whole lot of beeping whenever he pointed the tip at the gate. He tried pushing on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"It needs a key," he murmured, and then looked around. To the right, there were a bunch more Bokoblins set up with some tents; as I looked closer, I realized that must've been where they had taken me before.

I felt myself stiffen, but I didn't see the slender pale creature anywhere, and Link had already drawn his sword in confidence. "You stay here," he told me. "I'll see what I can find over there. They might have the key."

"Okay." I watched him saunter towards the Bokoblin camp, gripping his sword lazily like it was nothing. Those were the same monsters who had hit me on the head and captured me and tried to give me to the creature from the forest.

Link's sword clanged against one of the Bokoblins', and he still didn't look worried or scared at all. What had I done? I had kicked and screamed, mostly, and it hadn't gotten me very far...I'd still needed Zelda to come and save me…

I let out a heavy sigh, and then two voices right beside me made me jump.

"Yo, Ledd! This is the place, ain't it? So what is it they buried again?"

I turned and found the two giant voles almost right beside me, their heads and shoulders poking out of the ground as they sniffed around each other.

I guess they didn't see me standing there, because they kept right on talking. Loudly.

"A key!" Ledd said. "K-E-Y, KEY! They busted up the key to that door and hid the pieces all over the place. I'm telling you, one of the five pieces is buried right around here."

I glanced at the gate. Ah, the same key Link wanted?

"Hey, that reminds me," the other vole said. "That strange blonde girl in the weird clothes got taken away too."

"What?" I blurted out, and then covered my mouth when they both whipped around to look at me.

"Hey!" Ledd said. "Whattaya doin', sneaking up on us like that? Trying to listen in on our plan?"

"Eh?" I shook my head vigorously. "N-no, I...I just...did you say that a girl got taken away?"

"Yeah," the other vole agreed. "She's probably part of their master plan. Ah, I can smell the riches from here…"

I gulped and turned to see that Link was coming back, with the Bokoblin camp behind him now empty. _Should I tell him? _It would only make him mad or upset if he heard Zelda got captured by the Bokoblins…

"So, what're you saying we do once we find all the pieces to the key?" the vole asked the other.

"Whaddya think, igneous?" Ledd looked proud. "We sneak inside and take all the treasure we can carry!"

I looked down at their big claws and frowned. "Er…"

Ledd turned to me and glared. "What? You'd better not be trying to get in there ahead of us!"

"Well, it's just…" I frowned. "Can't you just dig your way in?"

"What? Um…"

They were both quiet for a second. I wondered if I had that right. Ledd squinted up at me. "Hey human, you ain't as dumb as you look!"

"What's going on?" Link asked beside me.

"They say the key got broken," I explained to him.

"Oh?" Link bent down to be level with the two voles. "And you guys know where the pieces are?"

The two voles looked at each other. "Uh," Ledd mumbled. "We don't know nothin'."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "But just a second ago you said –"

"Hey, shush!"

Link tilted his head, and reached behind him for his sword. "Are you _sure _you don't know where the pieces are?"

He drew his sword, and the voles looked at each other nervously. "Ah, you know what," Ledd said. "I just thought a' something. I think one of them is buried around here somewhere."

The other vole nodded a lot. "Yeah, but we don't know where the other ones are!"

"Swear!" Ledd started nodding too.

Link looked at them for a second, and then stood up, holding his sword down at his side. "Okay, fine," he said. "Thanks. Now scram."

The other vole went back inside the ground really fast, but Ledd stayed where he was, grumbling to himself. "Just a word of advice, pal," he said. "If you're lookin' for treasure, stay clear of those red guys. They're trouble."

"I'm not looking for treasure," Link said. "I'm looking for my friend."

"A friend?" Ledd repeated. I swallowed. Link wasn't going to like it when he found out… Ledd thought for a moment, though, and then said, "so that must have been your pal that passed by earlier, sprinting by without so much as a glance in this direction."

I blinked in surprise. Ooh, that other vole had said almost the exact same thing, hadn't it? The look on Link's face made me think he thought so too. "Was she wearing black?" I asked.

"Ehh…" Ledd thought. "It was sorta a blur of movement, so I didn't get a real good look, but I knew it wasn't one of those red creeps."

Link bit his lip. "Okay," he said. "Looks like we have some searching to do anyway, Hara." He looked at Ledd. "And you...don't go causing any more trouble, or you'll hear from me."

"I wasn't causin' no trouble," Ledd mumbled, but then disappeared back into the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

We had to dig around in the spot Ledd and the other vole had been in until we did find a piece of hard, colored material, which Link called "metal".

After that, Fi was able to do the dowsing thing, and so finding the rest of them wasn't very hard. Link arranged all five pieces in a hole in the door, and after a lot of turning and clicking, it slid open.

Hot air wafted out of the dark passage leading towards a set of staircase, and I squinted my eyes against it. There was a reddish-orange color that bounced off the rock walls.

I hesitated, realizing that we were about to go _inside a mountain, _and we were about to be _underneath the ground_, but Link took my hand and squeezed it before leading me down the steps.

I kept a hold on his hand. His hands felt rough and blistered, but the grip he had made me feel braver. I looked up at him, catching the side of his face as he went down the stairs. Everything about him was so confident, and he was always so sure of himself. I didn't think I could ever be like that, not even if I tried.

When we reached the bottom of the steps, I marveled at the amount of liquid fire there was down here. That was probably why it was so hot. I had seen the firewater around the mountain as Link and I had been climbing, but never _this _much. I was tempted to take off the shoes, but when I tried, Link quickly told me to put them back on. "You'll burn your feet," he told me.

I sighed. "Now where do we go?" I asked.

"Forward."

Link walked right over to the edge of the firewater. There was a rock sitting on the top a couple feet away from the edge, and with barely any hesitation, he jumped right to it.

The rock wobbled and I put a hand to my mouth, but it was still after a second and Link got his balance. He smiled at me. "Come on," he said. "I won't let you fall."

I swallowed and approached the edge of the firewater, trying to ignore the hotness that rose up and the weird bubbling sound it kept making as I hopped over and ended up with Link's arms around me. The rock started shaking again and I clutched him in fear, but it stopped.

I sighed in relief and I looked up, and I was going to say thank you to him but my voice stopped in my throat as I made eye contact with him.

_Link's eyes are blue._

It was weird. My breath stopped working and I felt my heart speed up, for no reason at all. I thought I might be getting sick for a second, but a second later, after Link let go of me, it faded away and I started to feel better.

We kept going, hopping from rock to rock until we reached the other end of the firewater pond, but when I looked forward, I could see that we were far from finished.

The firewater was all over the place here, but other than that, it was fascinating. Even though we were under the ground, there were stone walls and strange, colorful carvings shaped like dragons and monsters with big eyes and grinning faces. Link had to tell me a bunch of times to keep up with him, but I just couldn't help it. I wanted more than anything to stop and stare at the statues and trace the stone carvings with my finger, but Link wasn't interested. All he was interested in was Zelda.

There were monsters too. I couldn't do very much when they showed up. Link fought them off with no problem, but I had to hide. I felt bad when that happened. I wanted to help Link, but I wasn't strong or good at fighting like he was, so all I could do was watch…

We found another big door, bigger even than the one we came through, but it wouldn't move, even when both of us pushed as hard as we could on it. "I think this one needs a key too," he said.

I looked around, wondering if it was going to be buried again like it was last time, when I saw some stairs that spun around a pole in a big circle. I kept looking up, and saw that there was a windy path going up from there. I pointed. "Let's look up there."

I didn't wait for him to answer me, and started towards it, starting up the intricate staircase. I heard Link following me.

At the top of the stairs and then at the end of the windy path, there was a really big box.

It was a pretty gold color, and had shiny colored spots all over. I got down on the floor and ran a hand over it. Link laughed.

"You're supposed to open it, dummy," he told me. I scowled at him, but he was still grinning, and then he got down on the floor to push the box open.

He pulled out a thing that was as big as my hand – it was shiny and gold too, but it was a weird shape, and it had a bunch of holes and branches like a tree. "Key," he told me.

I stood up, and he did too. "That doesn't look like I key," I said, still frowning. He opened his mouth to respond, when there was a loud sound behind us.

We both turned.

Right behind the box a gigantic rock had appeared, a rock bigger than me, bigger than Link, and it was probably even bigger than Bucha. And it started rolling _really, really _fast towards us.

"Ah – ?!"

Link grabbed my arm and pulled. "Run!"

I slid a little on the rock but I got my balance and shot off, trying to ignore the shaking of the ground beneath me. Link had let go of me when we started running, but he grabbed onto me again and pushed me towards the edge of the rock.

When I hit the ground I couldn't breathe for a second, but I knew from falling out of trees in the forest that it would pass if I relaxed for a second. Still, I started panting as soon as I could, and my back hurt from smacking the ground.

"Hara…?" I pushed myself up and looked at Link, who was sitting on the ground beside me. "You okay?"

"I think…" I felt myself for anything broken, but everything seemed okay. I looked up. The big rock kept on rolling faster and faster until it got to the bottom of the path and landed in the firewater. "Wh-what was that?"

"A trap," Link said, standing up. "I thought the key was a little too easy to find."

I swallowed, and pushed myself back to my feet. My heart was still pounding, and I was still trying to catch my breath, but Link was already moving towards the door to put the key in. "Wait," I protested, running to the door.

Link fit the key inside the crevice in the door, and then I helped him push it open.

As soon as we went through, Fi jumped out of Link's sword. "Master, I detect Zelda's aura in the surrounding area."

"Yeah?" Link glanced around. "This room seems pretty empty to me…"

I went towards the stone steps and went down them, to another stone platform. This one had dirty gray rings sticking out of it. They clanked when I kicked them with my foot.

Link came down behind me, and Fi, still following, said: "I detect an especially strong reaction from this chain. I calculate the probability that Zelda was bound by it recently at 95%. I surmise Zelda was somehow able to escape and proceeded along this path. I suggest we continue with all possible speed."

"Seconded," Link said, looking towards the next set of stairs; this one went up. "Hurry up, Hara."

"Huh?" He was already near the top of the stairs. "Link, wait for me!"

As soon as I got to the top behind Link my skin started prickling, and before I even heard it, I stopped in my tracks.

"Mmmmahhaahaha…"

Link turned around at the sound of the laugh, and I felt cold. Suddenly, a warm gust of air brushed the side of my neck, and a finger barely touched the skin of my arm.

"Found you, sky child."


	11. Chapter 11

Link yelled my name, but I couldn't move. The hand I felt hovering near my arm grabbed hold and I gasped. It was cold.

It disappeared when Link ran toward it with his sword. I let out a breath, but the thing reappeared in front of us, and I grabbed Link's arm. He stood in front of me.

The thing regarded Link with a bored expression. "Oh, it's you again," it said, and began tapping its chin. "Let me see...no, that's not it...this is so very embarrassing, but I seem to be at a loss for your name."

I held Link's arm tighter. Did he know this person?

"Not that it matters, really," the thing continued. "You must understand – you really have made my day. By which I mean _you_, darling." His eyes turned on me, and I shrank back. "You're just what I wanted to see. Especially after already losing the first spirit maiden to that goddess-serving dog…"

"Hey," Link growled. "Back off. Or you want me to kick your ass like I did last time?"

The thing frowned at Link. "Quiet, worm. I'll be more than happy to take care of you in a moment."

It vanished again. I looked around, remembering that it could appear anywhere at any time, but Link put an arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in every part of my body.

I heard the sound on the other side of me, but before I could react, Link yanked me away and switched spots, swinging his sword at the thing. It went away before he could hit it.

This time, when it reappeared, it was sitting on top of the big stone dragon head on the wall. "Well," it said. "You really want to ruin my good mood, don't you? I suppose I'll have to give you something to do."

It raised a hand and snapped its fingers together.

"I want you to meet someone," it said, and I heard something jolt. I looked at the ceiling. There was a big tube above our heads, and inside it, the big rock that had chased us earlier was rolling around. "Now, don't be shy. Your agony is such a great stress reliever anyway, I suppose."

A little quake struck the ground as the rock hit the floor. My eyes fixed on it as it began to crack, first a little bit, and then a lot. Giant sticks popped out of the sides, and then the entire rock erupted into flames.

I think I would have fallen to the ground if Link hadn't been holding onto me so tightly. I had never seen so much fire in one place. We'd been walking all over the mountain and I had seen plenty of the firewater, but fire, _real _fire was different. I had seen fire in Faron Woods only a few times, and I remembered the way it licked everything that touched it, and the way it leapt at you when you got too close.

And now, the ball of fire was pummeling towards us at an incredible speed.

At least, it was for a second, but then Link's arms released my waist and something pushed me towards the floor; but before I could even touch it, cold fingers closed around my arm and the whole world jerked to the side.

I was suddenly looking down at Link from above, and when I snapped my head around in a panic, I found myself standing on top of the stone dragon head, with the thing's fingers clutched around my arm. I tried to pull away, but the arm wrapped around my waist the same way Link's had; but this, I didn't like. Its skin was cold and stiff like a rock. "It won't take more than a few moments with my friend before you're burned to a satisfying crisp," the thing called down to Link, as the ball of fire ran toward him again. He only barely dodged it.

I struggled, and tried to push the thing away from me, but it was like pushing on a wall. "Link!" I yelled desperately. He kept looking quickly between me and the fireball. There was no way for him to get up here, and I didn't see any possible way for him to kill a fireball...he had his sword, but what good was that against a big rock? "Li…"

Something bright flashed in front of my eyes, and the cold touch of the slender creature was replaced by warmth.

I was surrounded by white. "...nk," I finished, eyes widening. My legs were shaking so much that I fell to the ground.

The ground, the first thing I noticed, was made of clean gray stones, and on both sides of me there was clear blue water. I heard it running from behind me. I lifted my head, slowly, and found in front of me a big stone wall.

I gasped, and tried to push myself to my feet. "You've scared her," a warm voice behind me said. "I told you it would scare her."

"What was I supposed to do? Let Ghirahim have her?"

I whipped around, legs still shaking, but the face that was behind me now belonged to Zelda, and she grabbed both of my hands like she had in the cavern earlier. "It's okay, Hara," she said. "You're safe now. He can't get you in here. He –"

I shook her hands off of me, turning back to the stone wall. I could still hear rumbling coming from behind it, like the fireball rolling around. "Link!" I screamed, trying to push at the wall. "Link! No!"

The wall wouldn't move, and tears began to slip from my eyes. Zelda tried to pull me away. "Hara, it's okay," she kept trying to tell me. "It's okay."

"No," I protested, gasping. All I could think about was Link trapped in there, trying to avoid that monster, that fireball with legs. "No, he, he needs help, I have to, I…"

"Link will be fine," Zelda said, and put her hands on my cheeks. "I believe in him."

A hiccup came out of my throat. "But…"

"It's not our responsibility to help him anyway," another voice said, and for the first time, I noticed that Zelda and I were not alone. A tall, thin person stood behind her, with very dark skin, and dark pelts with odd markings. It had short hair, so I decided it was a boy.

"Impa," Zelda said, taking her hands away. "You don't have to be so –"

"You have a job to do," Impa interrupted her. "Don't let this distract you." He looked at the door. "Besides, it won't do to worry about that boy. I'm not sure he is fit to be the hero of legend anyway."

"Yes, he is," Zelda argued, and started toward Impa angrily. "I know he is. You'll see."

Impa grunted in response. I watched their conversation silently, and as Zelda went past Impa and up the steps ahead, then knelt down in the center of a stone circle. and bent her head. I looked again at the wall. I couldn't hear very much anymore, and pressed my ear against the wall, straining for at least _something _that would tell me he was still alive.

A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I looked up to see Impa standing over me. "When she is done cleansing herself," he said, jerking his head back to Zelda, "you are coming with us."

I didn't like his tone of voice, and I shrank down, swallowing. "Where?"

"It doesn't matter," he said sharply. "You have no real role in this, but if Ghirahim gets a hold of you, it would be bad for us. You need to stay where I can protect you."

"I…" I heard a crash from behind the wall, and jerked my head around. "I don't need you to protect me. Link protects me."

"Oh?" Impa snorted. "He's not doing a very good job."

"You're wrong," I spat back. "I don't want to go with you. I'm going with Link. Let me out of here! He needs help!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Hara," Impa said. His voice was so cold that it made me want to shiver. "A girl of your standing, even if you are only an alternate, shouldn't be running around in clear view of Ghirahim and his minions."

The crashing behind the wall continued. I thought I heard a _boom. _"Impa," Zelda said, in a small voice. "Maybe we should –"

"If this 'Link' is at all fit to be the hero of legend," Impa said, "then whatever is out there he should be capable of handling on his own. Continue your prayers, quickly."

I stayed where I was on the floor as Zelda bent her head again, and Impa turned to watch. I didn't understand at all. This Impa person was not the boss of me. He couldn't make me go with him. Link would be worried...in fact, he probably already was worried, since from his point of view it must have seemed like I just vanished.

Suddenly, the rumbling stopped. I gasped and pressed both of my hands against the wall, listening.

"Time to go," Impa said, and my heart jerked.

"I'm not going," I told them.

"You are," Impa said.

Zelda looked uncertain, chewing on her nail. "We shouldn't force her to come if she doesn't want to," she said softly. "We don't know if she's meant to, anyway."

Impa didn't answer for a second and looked at Zelda with that cold stare. Zelda didn't look afraid though, and looked right back bravely.

A tall pillar of light appeared behind Zelda, which Impa then gestured to. "Go ahead, Your Grace. I want to have a few words with Link."

Zelda hesitated, and looked at the stone wall. Everything sounded pretty quiet behind it. "Ah...but can't I…"

I heard a noise behind me, and the stone wall suddenly vanished. Link was standing there with his sword in hand. He was out of breath.

I jumped up and ran to him right away, and he said my name kind of shocked. "Hey," he said, frowning. "Are you okay? What hap…"

He trailed off and let go of me when he looked forward and saw Zelda there at the top of the steps. He opened his mouth.

Zelda smiled and started towards him. "Link!"

Impa held out an arm and stopped her.

"You cannot go to him, Your Grace," Impa said. "Remember what we discussed. Restrain yourself. Focus on the task at hand."

Link stopped in front of the steps and looked up at them. Zelda looked at Link, and then at me behind him.

I watched her face, and I could really see pain. I had always thought that pain was just a feeling, and not something you could touch or see, but right then I saw pain clear as day on Zelda's face. It was only there for a second. Then she clenched her jaw and turned around.

"I…I have to go," she said softly. "I'm sorry, Link."

"Wait…" Link started up the steps. "Zelda, wait –!"

She quickly walked into the pillar of light and was enveloped by it, vanishing completely. Link stopped on the middle step. Impa turned to him.

"It took you far too long to get here," Impa said loudly. "Looking at you, I fear the goddess is mistaken in her choice of agents."

"Eh…" Link blinked at her. I started up the steps after him, still trying to understand what they were talking about. "I don't…"

"If this failure is any indication," Impa continued, "you have no hope of defending Her Grace from those who seek to assail her."

"Failure?" Link repeated. His fists clenched. "I didn't see _you _fighting off Ghirahim's beast. Maybe I don't have magic powers or the ability to leap over walls and chasms, but I've been doing _everything I can _to –"

"Do my words anger you, boy?" Impa interrupted. He interrupted people a lot. "Do my words sting?"

Link looked mad. Impa just smiled a little bit. "Let them," he continued. "If I had not come when I did, your Zelda would already have fallen into the hands of the enemy."

Link didn't say anything.

"The truth of it is, you were late. You were late, and you failed to protect her."

He still wasn't saying anything, and I finally felt upset enough to say something. "You're wrong!" I shouted, going up towards Impa. "You're wrong! Link tried really hard to get here! It was all he could think about the whole time! All he wanted to do was protect Zelda…"

Impa's expression didn't change at all. In fact, Impa didn't look at me. "And I will remind you that although she too is a spirit maiden, she is only an alternate. Zelda must always come first. If you wasted your time protecting this girl, then it's no wonder you were late."

I blinked and looked at Link, hoping he would say something. He just kept staring at Impa with a stunned look, but his fists had come out of their tight balls and he didn't look as angry anymore. _Wasted his time…? _

"I sent Zelda ahead to learn more of the fate in which she is destined to play a part," Impa said. "Listen well, chosen one. If you wish to be of help to Her Grace, you must summon a shred of courage and face the trials laid out before you. Only when you've conquered the trials will you be of use to Zelda. No sooner."

Then, Impa looked at me. "And you," he said. "It would be safest for you to come with me, but if you cannot come willingly, you might as well not. I find it unlikely that we will have any use for you anyway."

There was a long silence. I couldn't think of anything to say.

"I hope I've made myself understood," Impa said, and then turned and walked into the light like Zelda had done, and disappeared.

I looked carefully at Link. He stared after her for a moment, and then looked at the floor. His arms hung at his sides like branches of a tree with too much weight on them.

"Link?" I asked softly. He didn't answer me. I reached out to tap on his shoulder, but he quickly put up an arm to stop me.

"I'm fine," he said. "I...I'm fine." He took a deep breath. I twisted my fingers together and waited a second.

He lifted his head and looked ahead, to the big stone statue. "Just one more thing," he said. "Then we can go."


	12. Chapter 12

Link went up to the statue and collected some kind of rock, and then Fi came out and talked for a bit. I wasn't really listening. I don't know that Link was either.

After we had done everything we needed to, a light covered us like it had Zelda and Impa, and it took us back outside onto the rocks again.

Link was still very silent, and I was starting to get worried about what Impa had said. I was reaching out to tap his shoulder when he suddenly turned around.

"I need to ask you something," he said. "Did you know that Ghirahim was after you?"

I blinked. I had already figured out that Ghirahim was the name of the slender pale thing. I hesitated. "I…"

"You did," Link guessed. I felt my cheeks turn red and I looked down. "Hara. You met Ghirahim in the forest, didn't you? Is that the real reason you asked to come with me? Because you were afraid?"

How did he know everything? I didn't have to answer. I was sure that he could tell he was right by how red my face got and how I ducked my head even further.

Link didn't say anything else for a minute. I snuck a glance at him only to see him close his eyes, and was let out a long breath. _He's mad._ I squeezed my eyes shut. I could feel it.

"So…" Link opened his eyes. "Why did you lie? Why didn't you just tell me what had happened?"

"I...I don't know," I mumbled. "I didn't know...I didn't know you...or what you were doing, or anything, I just…" It was suddenly really hard to get words out of my throat. "I just thought…"

Link waited. I didn't finish and stared at the rock.

"Okay," he said finally. "Then I've decided. You're going back to Skyloft, and you're staying there this time."

I lifted my head and opened my mouth. He turned around. "Come on. Let's go."

My heart sank so low into my stomach that I thought it might have disappeared entirely. I ran after him. "No!"

He stopped and looked at me. "Hara."

I rooted both of my feet on the ground and tried to stand up taller. "I don't want to go back," I said. "I want to go with you."

"No, you don't," Link said. "All you want is to get away from Ghirahim. Skyloft is as far away from him as you can get, and you'll be safe there."

"No, I...I like going places with you."

"Yeah?" Link's brow furrowed. "Well you know what? You came with me this time. You saw the volcanoes. But ultimately, I failed. All this time spent tracking her down and worrying after her, going around every corner hoping to see her there and being disappointed every time; I finally found her, and she slipped away. She left me behind. _Because I failed. _Do you understand?"

I took a step back. "You think it's my fault," I realized, remembering what Impa had said about me wasting his time. My stomach began to twist unpleasantly. "You...you really think it's my fault."

Link sighed. "No, I'm not saying that."

"You did say that," I argued. My voice was shaking. Link opened his mouth, but I shook my head at him. "I really...really got in your way, then? Like you said I would?"

"No. No, it's not that you got in the way. I didn't mean that." He let out a long breath. "I just think it would be better for you to stay in Skyloft."

"I don't want to," I said, and then remembered something else. "You said I couldn't stay in Skyloft because of what happened with Groose."

Link blinked, and he didn't say anything for a second. "That…" he shook his head. "I'll figure something out. The Headmaster will help."

He turned around and started towards another bird statue sitting off the edge of the path. I ran after him. "Link…"

"Don't argue. We're going."

"But –"

"_Hara._" Link whipped around again. "I could have lost you today. I could have lost Zelda too, if Impa hadn't been there. _I'm not going to let that happen again. _Have you got that?"

I still wanted to argue, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. _Maybe he is right… _Was it really my fault that we hadn't been able to get to Zelda in time?

I looked around at the pale rocks and at the volcano and the caves, still not very far behind us. I had been the one to get caught by Bokoblins, and it was partly my fault that Ghirahim had made the big fireball attack Link.

And he was right. All I had wanted was to get away from Ghirahim, so I guess it didn't really matter if I had to stay in Skyloft.

But I had really liked coming here and seeing so many new things…

I looked at my feet and nodded. "Okay," I mumbled.

Link relaxed his shoulders. "Okay," he said back to me. "Then let's go."

When we got to the statue, I think I finally figured out what "awkward" meant.

I had to hold onto him again like I had last time, and this time I could feel hotness going into my own cheeks. My stomach was twisting up and I had a weird feeling in my arms and legs that _really _didn't want to be standing so close to Link right then. Not after we had just had a huge fight. I didn't totally understand it, but at least I had learned a new word.

I squeezed my eyes shut as we were thrown back up into the sky, and Link's red Loftwing caught us again, just like it had last time. Flying didn't feel as good at it had earlier. My heart felt so much like a rock that I didn't think I could enjoy anything. It was a bad feeling. I hoped it would go away.

He landed the Loftwing back on Skyloft, and took me back to the place he lived in – the "Night Academy", I think it was called. and pushed me into his room. "I'm going to go talk to the Headmaster," he said. "I'll be back soon. So _stay there. _Don't leave the room."

"Okay."

"I mean it, Hara. _Don't move._"

"_Okay_."

"Promise me you'll stay right here until I come back."

I sighed and frowned at him. He raised his eyebrows very expectantly. "I promise," I said reluctantly.

Link nodded and then closed the door behind him after he walked out. I waited a minute, and then kicked off Link's shoes before I reopened the door and walked away.

What?

I guess I was pretty upset. It made me feel a little better to not do what he told me. Besides, there was a lot of Skyloft that I hadn't gotten to explore yet, and this was a good chance to do it since Link was out of sight.

I went back outside and turned left, instead of going down the big steps like I had last time. There were some big crates stacked against the wall, and when I looked up, there was an arch that led to the top of the building.

I climbed on top of the crates, and then it was an easy jump to the arch. The top of the building was flat, and there was another wall on the left side and a door. I looked up. I wondered if I could get up to the _very _top? That seemed like a good place to hide from Link, and from everyone else, really.

I was about to try to climb up, but I heard a voice and started. "Hey."

I looked down, and recognized the big one, Groose, standing below, staring up at me. I swallowed, remembering how he'd almost made me jump off the edge of Skyloft to my death, and raised myself onto the balls of my feet to run away.

"No, wait," he said. I looked at him. He seemed embarrassed. "I uh...wanted to say sorry for...you know...almost killing you, that one time."

I didn't move. There wasn't really anywhere for me to go, so I was hoping he'd go away soon so I could come down. He didn't. "I'm not gonna bug you anymore," he said. "Promise. Just wanted to say sorry. That's all."

Slowly, I lowered myself to stand flat. "So…" He still hadn't gone away. "Do you wanna...introduce yourself? I'm Groose."

I took a step back. Was it okay to tell him my name? Link would probably say no. But he _had _said sorry…

I must have been thinking for too long, because he asked me again. "Hey, are you slow or something? What's your name?"

Well, it was probably fine. "Hara," I said finally.

"Cool, cool," he replied. I frowned.

"What do you mean, cool?" I asked.

"Eh? You know. Your name is cool."

I didn't know what to make of that. "My name is cold?"

"Huh?" He looked confused, and his little eyes got even littler. "Hey, anyway...what'cha doing up there?"

I answered carefully. "Looking."

"At what?"

I paused. "...things."

"Oh." He seemed confused again. "Well...there's not really a whole lot to look at up there."

He was right about that, at least. There was a strange, yellow round object up here, but nothing else.

"If you want to look at stuff," Groose offered, "I could show you some things. Since you're new to Skyloft and all, I figure you don't really know your way around, right?"

I didn't say anything. Was this really okay? I could practically hear Link in my head telling me what a bad idea it was, but if Link was going to go off on his own after he was done talking to the Headmaster, he wasn't in charge of me anymore. I should be able to decide what I could and couldn't do myself.

I walked back over to the arch and paused halfway across, looking down at Groose. "You really can show me the rest of Skyloft?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. But you gotta come down from there, first."

I hopped over to the crate. My instincts were telling me that this wasn't good, but I figured I could run a lot faster than he could, so I would probably be fine. I slid down to the ground.

I had forgotten how much bigger he was than me, but he looked down and gave me a crooked smile. "Awesome," he said – another word I furrowed my brow at. "Let's go. There's a ton of stuff to look at down here."


	13. Chapter 13

I had already seen inside the market, so Groose said we could go look around the "vil-edge". I liked looking at all of the square buildings that Groose called "howses", where all the people apparently lived and ate and slept.

But soon, that got boring, and so Groose said we could go to a _really _interesting place, as long as I didn't get scared.

I scowled at him. "_I'm _not scared!" I informed him, crossing my arms.

He grinned at me. "Okay," he said. "If you really say so. Then I'll show you the graveyard."

"Graveyard," I repeated, following him. "What's that?"

He looked at me strangely. "Ah, come on. Don't you have those where you came from?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

His forehead scrunched up, but he explained anyway. "It's where you bury dead people."

_Dead people!_

I stopped right where I was. Bury? Dead people? That was the most absurd thing I had ever heard. When someone died, you just...well, you just…

I looked at the ground. I guess I had never really seen a dead person, had I? Well, I had seen Bokoblins that Link had killed, but that was different, because they were monsters. We just moved on.

Groose paused. "Hey, Hara. You coming?"

"Er...yes," I said quickly. I didn't want him to think I was scared. Which I wasn't, but it was really weird.

We walked between some of the buildings until we got to a quiet patch of grass. There were a bunch of identical, dome-shaped rocks sitting in rows. A shiver ran down my spine.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Those are the headstones," Groose said. "There's a dead person underneath every one of them."

My mouth fell open. Really? But that was so many! I counted. It was at least ten. Why did people die so much here? I had never seen it happen in Faron Woods…

"It's not really that scary during the day, I guess," Groose said. "What you _really _have to do is come here at night."

"Why?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"That's when it gets really creepy," he explained. "There are ghosts and stuff. Oh, and there's this guy over at the Lumpy Pumpkin who thinks he saw a monster here once."

I had seen _loads _of monsters when I was out with Link. I didn't think there could be anything much scarier than those. "Monsters don't scare me," I told him proudly. "Not anymore. And ghosts aren't real. I already know that."

Groose was taken aback. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm…" He chewed on his lip, and looked at the sky for a minute. "Well, then, how about we come back here at night? Then we can see how brave you really are."

I put my hands on my hips. "Okay," I said. "I bet you're the one who's scared."

After that, I went back to the academy, and saw Link coming out of his room right as I walked in through the door. He frowned at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

He let out a heavy sigh. "What did you do?"

I put my nose in the air. "Nothing," I said.

He frowned more. Well, it served him right for yelling at me. "Look, I talked to the Headmaster," he told me. "He said –"

I didn't let him finish. "_I_," I interrupted, a little annoyed that he hadn't pestered me a little more, "was talking to Groose."

Link blinked at me. I tried to study his expression to see if he got jealous, but he just looked confused. "Eh...why, exactly?"

"Because he's nice to me. And he doesn't think I'm useless."

"I never said…" He gave up after a second and sighed. "Whatever. You shouldn't encourage him. He'll get the wrong idea."

"What wrong idea?"

"Well, if the fact that he's being _nice _to you is any indication," Link grumbled. "He's only ever nice to girls. Not even that. He's only nice to _pretty _girls, like Zelda and y–"

"You think Zelda is pretty?"

"Wha…?" His face turned crimson. "Errg..._never mind._" He turned around to go to his room. "Just stay away from Groose."

"You're not in charge of me anymore!" I shouted back as his door shut. I didn't know if he heard me. I hoped he did.

Instead of going to his room like I was probably supposed to, I went into Zelda's room and plopped myself down on top of the bed. I wondered what she was up to right now, running around down below with that weird man guiding her...I sighed. I guessed I wasn't going to find out. I wouldn't see her again until Link brought her back, now that I had to stay in Skyloft. Well, that was a little sad, at least. I liked her.

I got up and poked around on the flat table surface. There were a lot of things they did here that I wasn't familiar with. I kept finding rectangles made of hard material on the outside, and a lot of thin, papery things in between. The papers had squiggles on them, but I wasn't sure what they meant, and only a few of them had pictures.

I grabbed one of them, about to walk over to Link's room to ask him what it was, but then I remembered I couldn't because I was mad at him. Drat.

Well, maybe I could ask Groose, when we went to the graveyard tonight. I put the rectangle back down, and suddenly realized how hungry I was.

The past couple of days had been so full of excitement and energy that I hadn't even realized that I wasn't able to eat much. I chewed on my fingernail. Back in the forest, if I was hungry, I would just go out and pick some berries or roots, but I couldn't really do that here, so…

Again, I almost walked over to ask Link where to get food, but remembered again that I couldn't. I huffed. Being mad at Link was _hard._

Oh well. I was going to live here for a while, wasn't I? I might as well learn how to do things by myself.

I walked out of the room and went back outside, glancing at the few bushes and trees that were on the island. They didn't have any fruit on them, so I was going to have to look somewhere else. Maybe the market. Groose said the market was where you buy things. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but maybe there would be something to eat there.

I went down the steps and poked my head inside, taking a moment to let all the strange noises and colors sink in before I started uncertainly forward. There was that smell again. I decided to call it a good smell, because it definitely made me feel hungrier.

I was going to start following the scent when a loud voice on the other side of me made me jump. "Hey there! Back again, I see?"

I turned, and remembered that the man with the funny face was here too, working on his robots. I tried hard to recall his name.

He remembered mine. "Hara, isn't it?" he asked.

I nodded, smiling, but my eyes kept wandering off in the direction the smell was coming from. The man noticed. "You hungry?" he asked.

I nodded again, harder. "I'll treat you to some of Piper's stew," he said. "You won't believe what that woman can cook up! Come on."

I beamed and followed him over to the tables, where there were some other men sitting eating the same brown food out of a bowl. "Two over here," the man called.

I suddenly remembered the name, _Gondo, _as a woman set a bowl down in front of me. I looked at the contents skeptically. It smelled good all right, but it didn't look like anything I was used to eating. It was almost like liquid, but thicker, and brown, and it had chunks floating in it.

It must have been okay, though, because Gondo started shoveling it right in. Uncertainly, I took the eating tool and scooped up some of it like he did, and put it in my mouth.

It was hot, and burned me a bit, but I was focused more on how it tasted. It coated my mouth in a greasy film, and one of the chunks was chewy and covered my tongue with a strange sensation, a taste that wasn't like anything I had ever experienced before. Fruits were fresh. Roots were earthy. Leaves were thin and full of energizing juices. This was something entirely different.

Nevertheless, it was a strange taste that I found myself wanting more of when I swallowed, so I put in another mouthful.

"So, Hara," Gondo said, looking up. "I did nothing but jabber about myself last time we met, so what about you?"

"Hmm?" I quickly swallowed. "Uh, I…"

"You travelling with Link? He blew in here the other day looking for you."

"Oh," I said, remembering. "Yes...well, I was, but...not anymore."

"Yeah? Well, Link's a good guy, if you know what I mean. I think you two look pretty good together." He winked an eye at me, and I smiled a little bit, not really sure what the gesture meant.

"Is your robot fixed?" I asked, before eating another mouthful.

"Nah," Gondo replied. "Nowhere near it. I think there's this special oil I need, you know? The kind you can only get from an Ancient Flower."

"An Ancient Flower?" I repeated.

"Yeah. They don't grow around here anymore, though, so I suppose I'll just have to find some other way to fix it."

By the fourth mouthful, my stomach was starting to not feel so good, so I put the tool down. "I'm really good at picking flowers," I told him. "If I find one, I'll give it to you."

He beamed. "Well, that would be just swell!" He glanced over at my bowl, and I noticed that his was already empty. "You gonna eat the rest of that?"

I gave him the rest of my bowl and told him goodbye, getting up to go back outside. It was almost dark now and I had go grab that rectangle thing from Zelda's room to show Groose. And then we'd see who was _really _scared of the graveyard.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Hey guys! In honor of Halloween, this week's chapter is EXTRA SPOOKY! Well, sort of.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"Where do you think you're going?"

Link was standing outside of Zelda's door waiting for me when I opened it, with one of the softer rectangles in my hand. I quickly hid it behind my back and frowned at him.

"None of your business," I told him, and tried to go around him, but he grabbed my arm.

"It's getting dark," he said. "I don't want you to go out there at night."

I pulled my arm away. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Hara." He ran and blocked the door. "You don't understand. Skyloft is different at night. It's dangerous."

"So?" I kept frowning at him. "It was dangerous down at the volcano, and I was okay."

"Barely," Link muttered.

Anger flared up inside of me. "You're a...a…" I tried to think of something insulting to say, but I didn't know very many words for that. "You're a jerk," I said finally. "Leave me alone. I'm not going anywhere with you anymore, so I can do what I want."

I went around him and opened the door. "That's not how that works," Link argued, reaching out to stop me again but I quickly shut the door in his face.

I heard it open again as I was starting down the steps, and I started going faster. Link sighed behind me and caught up as I reached the bottom.

"Look, if you're mad at me, that's fine," he said. "But I don't want you walking around in the dark out here and falling off the edge of Skyloft or something."

I scowled. "I'm not stupid," I objected, clenching my fist and holding the rectangle in my other hand tighter. "I'm not going to walk off the edge."

"You know what I mean."

"Just go away," I said, stopping and looking at him. "I don't need you to follow me around all the time. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

I started again, going over the directions to the graveyard in my head, but Link was still behind me. "Where are you going anyway, Hara?"

"None of your business," I repeated. I didn't want him following me all the way to the graveyard, but if I didn't go there soon, Groose was going to think I was too scared to come. I gritted my teeth. "Go away."

He didn't say anything, but I could still hear his footsteps behind me. Was he really not going to give up? I guess I only had one option…

I sprung off the ground and started running, zig-zagging out of habit because that confused a lot of monsters back in the woods. It didn't confuse Link. "Hey! Hara!"

I managed to stay ahead of him all the way to the graveyard, where Groose was already standing and waiting for me. I skidded to a stop by him and whipped around just as Link reappeared. "Leave me alone!"

Link huffed at a piece of hair that was on his forehead. "You are really annoying, you know that?" he said.

"Link?" Groose's beady eyes narrowed. "What'd you bring him for, Hara?"

Link glanced at Groose and his eyebrows dropped too. "Hara, what are you doing here with him?"

"I didn't bring him," I said to Groose, crossing my arms. "He followed me and wouldn't go away."

"Oh yeah?" Groose frowned. "Well, maybe Link needs to be taught how to mind his own business."

His tone went dark, and I looked at him in surprise. He was clenching his fists now and giving Link a bad stare. Link didn't look all that concerned, but I saw his hand twitch towards where he kept his sword. "You don't scare me, Groose," Link snarled, and startled me even more. "Come near me, I dare you."

"Wha…" I took a step back. "What are you guys doing?"

All at once, Groose started towards Link, Link's arm reached behind him for his sword, and I tried to stumble forward and stop them, and immediately tripped over one of the gravestones.

As I hit the ground, a bright blue light hit the ground beside me, and I heard something slide and thump to my right. Groose and Link both stopped.

I glanced back at the gravestone. There was a bright blue, glowing symbol on it now, in the shape of a head with horns on it. Groose took a step back, jaw dropping open.

"What did you do?" Link asked, frowning. He was looking towards the wall on the right, and when I looked, I saw that the sliding had been part of it moving to make an opening.

"Whoa!" Groose blinked in shock. "It's just like that old crazy guy said! That means there really _is _a monster here!"

"Monster?" Link scoffed. "In Skyloft?"

"It's true," Groose argued. "This proves it!" He pointed to where the wall had opened. "I bet if we went in there, we'd find it."

"Uh-huh," Link said, drawing his sword. "Well, I guess we'll find out."

"What?" Groose's eyes widened as Link started for the opening. "No way. You don't have the guts to go in there."

"Try me," Link said. I started after him.

"Whoa! Wait up! Where the hell did you get that giant sword, anyway?"

I climbed down the ladder after Link, and when I looked up I saw that Groose was coming too. After I hit the bottom, I followed Link's gaze over to the right. There were some thin planks of wood stretched across the empty dark sky, and they led towards a platform further down. Link glanced at me. "If you're coming, be careful," he warned me.

"Can't you say anything other than 'be careful'?" I asked, scowling at him.

Link wasn't bothered, and looked back at Groose. "You should be careful too. It's going to take good balance to cross this thing."

"Where do you get off telling _me _to be careful?" Groose puffed out his chest and made himself look bigger, like some animals did when they were scared. "_You _should be careful!"

Link rolled his eyes and started across the platform, feet moving with quick and confident balance. I was right behind him, determined to show him that I could do it _just _as well as he could. For Groose, it didn't seem so easy. He held both his arms out on either side but he was way slower. When I glanced back at him a couple of times I was afraid he would fall, but he glanced at me and stood up straighter, and then tried to give me his crooked smile but then he would wobble again and have to concentrate.

Link and I made it across easy, but we had to wait a minute for Groose. There was a door across the platform, buried in the rock on the bottom of the island. "Weird," Link commented. "Who the hell lives down here?"

Groose came to the platform, heaving a sigh. "No problem," he said, and then saw Link reaching for the door handle. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said. "What's gotten into you, hotshot? You really wanna just barge in there?"

"If we don't," Link said over his shoulder, "we'll never find out what's inside."

Suddenly, from nowhere, there was a scream, so loud and so close that it made my ears ring.

Link, eyes widening, threw open the door without another second of hesitation and ran inside, sword drawn. I went after. It was dim, but as my eyes adjusted, I made out a figure in the very back of the room.

It was tall, so tall that it almost reached the ceiling, and from its top sprouted two, gigantic, long horns. It turned around, and two wings unfolded from its back as it let out a chilling roar.

I gasped, and Link held his sword out in front of him, at the ready. The creature's eyes went up in what looked like surprise to me.

For a second, I thought that in its eyes might have been something like fear. The eyes were yellow all the way across, with no black circle in the center like most eyes had, but I was almost completely positive. _Fear. _

And when it suddenly recoiled from Link and yelled, "Stop!" I was sure.

I ran and grabbed Link's arm before he could get any further. "Link, wait!"

"Hara, what –"

"Please, I beg of you, don't hurt me!" the monster was now cowering and trembling, pressed against the wall away from Link's sword. "Oh goodness, I know how bad this must look to you right now but I assure you I mean no harm! We were just playing the scream-as-loud-as-you-can game!"

Link and I looked at each other. "Hey," Groose said behind us. "Aren't you Kukiel, from the village? What are you doing here?"

Behind us, there was a little girl standing in the corner who I hadn't seen before. "Scream-as-loud-as-you-can game," I repeated. "So that was the screaming we heard…"

"Well, that seems awfully contrived," Link muttered. "What gives? Who are you?"

The creature bowed to us both. "My name is Batreaux, and I am a monster who resides here in this humble dwelling below Skyloft." He raised a clawed finger. "But please allow me to correct one popular misconception. While I'm certainly a monster, I wouldn't dream of terrorizing the people in this town!"

Link didn't look like he was buying it. "Really," he said dryly.

"Yes," he agreed. "You see, this adorable little girl is the only one who didn't let loose a blood-curdling scream at the sight of me!" He pointed at the little girl, who Groose had called Kukiel. "Since she began to visit me here, I've felt positively jubilant! You see, my heart's only wish is to become friends with the lovely people of Skyloft. But as you can surely imagine, it has proven difficult to break the ice when they are struck with such paralyzing fear at the mere sight of me!"

"You don't say." Link sighed. "That's all very well and good, but may I suggest that you _don't _have screaming contests in the middle of the night? It's a little misleading."

"Don't be so mean," I scolded Link, and he glanced at me, taken aback. "He told you he just wants to be friends." I held out my hand. "My name is Hara. It's very nice to meet you."

Batreaux shoved his claw into my hand, pricking my skin, but I did my best to ignore it as he shook my arm up and down. "I am so very happy to meet you as well," he said. "Oh, joy! I do hope we will become the best of friends!"

"No way!" Groose said behind us. "I-I don't buy this! What are you doing just standing there, Link? Kill it! If you won't, I'll–"

"_No_," I said, whipping around and glaring at him. "Don't you dare! He said he's nice, so we should at least give him a chance."

"Oh thank you," Batreaux said, squeezing my hand.

"Hara's right," Link said, shockingly enough. He gave me a small smile. "We can leave him be. Maybe I can even find some way to help him."

I allowed myself a smile back.

After we made sure Kukiel was all right and was going to return home in the morning, we left the house and went back up to the graveyard. Groose went home pretty fast, glaring at Link and mumbling something about him being a coward before he ran off. "Are you leaving tomorrow?" I asked Link, wringing my hands.

"Hm?" Link blinked. "Oh. Yeah, I was planning on it. Another spot has opened up below for me to land on, so I'll go first thing in the morning." And then, he sighed, taking my arm and pulling me towards the houses, away from the gravestones. "And you know, you never let me finish earlier, when I told you I talked to the Headmaster. I told him I thought you should stay behind this time, but he still disagreed with me, especially after hearing what Impa had said you were. _He _thought I needed you, to help me find Zelda, to help fend off whatever comes at me...you know. Everything."

I frowned. To be honest with myself, I didn't think that was true at all. If anything, I was the one who needed Link to fight off monsters, but I didn't say anything, because Link kept going. "I'm not entirely sure, but...the Headmaster is one of the smartest, wisest people I know. And after seeing how you handled the situation back there, I'm beginning to think he might just have been right." Finally, Link took a deep breath. "So what I was _going _to ask you was...would you consider coming with me again this time?"

Instead of answering, I grabbed him around the shoulders and hugged him.


	15. Chapter 15

As soon as there was light outside, Link and I got ready to go. He relented and told me I didn't have to wear the boots this time, but also that I "might regret it because I haven't flown over to see what's down there yet". I just rolled my eyes at him.

We flew on the Loftwing towards a different pillar of light, like we had last time; this time it was a golden color. The air was still chilly with morning, but I let it wash over me, feeling brave enough now to not hold on to Link and spread my arms out to either side, squeezing the bird with my thighs.

A short burst of energy rushed through me at the feeling, but quickly I started to feel dizzy and grabbed onto the Loftwing's feathers again.

We got to the hole in the clouds and Link took the Loftwing as low as it would go, turning around to look at me. "You ready?" he asked.

I wasn't, but I nodded anyway and with a deep breath let go of the bird, letting myself fall off the side. I still had to squeeze my eyes shut for this part, but after a second I felt Link's arms grab hold of me and pull me in tight. Now I could open my eyes.

I watched as the sky and the clouds raced past us until finally Link let out the cloth and we fell slower.

We landed, again, on hard rock, but it was nothing like what we had seen at the volcano. The rock was a lighter color, and not to mention, we landed right in front of a big, rocky hill, with some oddly-shaped stones beside it and a lot of old, crusty shapes. Fi jumped out of the sword. "A report, Master Link," she said. "We have arrived at Lanayru Mine."

"La-nai-roo?" I repeated.

"This arid region was transformed into a desert over the course of several hundred years," Fi continued. "My projections show that Zelda must have travelled through this area."

"Thanks, Fi."

Fi retreated, and I turned to Link. "What's a 'desert'?"

"Um…" He thought. "Do you know what sand is?"

I nodded. "Well, that's all it is, really," Link said. "Sand. Lots and lots of sand."

I didn't see a whole lot of sand here, but I took his word for it and followed him towards the cave. There were several tannish rocks littering the ground–all such weird shapes, I thought. I passed closely to one and gave it a glance, and then had to look again because I thought I saw a–

"F-face," I stuttered, grabbing Link's arm to show him. "It has a _face_."

Link and I stared. It wasn't actually a rock. It looked like a little person to me, with no neck and a strange hat upon its head. "What is that?" I asked Link finally.

"I'm not sure," Link admitted. "Fi, what is this?"

Fi reappeared. "My estimates indicate that this object has been broken for many years," she said. "I am unable to analyze the content of its speech at this time."

"Ah," Link sounded disappointed.

I squinted at it. Was it just me, or did it seem familiar… "Oh, I know," I said, remembering. "Gondo has a thing just like this."

Link looked at me in surprise. "You know Gondo?"

I nodded. "Yes. He has something that looks just like this. He says it's broken, and he's been trying to fix it. What was it called…" I racked my brains. "A ro-bot."

Link laughed a little bit. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "You bested Fi. Nice job."

I beamed. Link sighed. "Still, though, doesn't tell us what they're doing here. I guess they were working a long time ago."

I straightened, bouncing towards the mouth of the cave. "Let's go," I said. "I want to see all this sand you said there was."

"I assure you it's not that exciting," Link replied, but we moved forward into the cave.

It was kind of dark in there, but not too bad, and there were only a couple of bats. the narrow cave walls opened up a little bit further down into a big circle, with some more broken robots and square rocks, and in the middle was a really big, shiny blue stone.

I ran immediately to it, marvelling at its beauty. It was like a huge diamond, with a symbol drawn on it. I reached out with my hand to trace it.

"Ask Fi what this is," I said, turning to Link.

Link came over to the stone, and carefully put his hand against as well. "She doesn't seem to be coming out," he said. "I don't think she knows." He began to circle it. "With a drawing like that on it though, it must mean something."

I tapped it with my fingernail, but nothing happened. "You think it does something?" I asked. "Like magic?"

"Maybe…" Link drew his sword and took a few steps back. "Well, when in doubt," he muttered, "hit it with a sword, I guess."

Link pulled his arm back and swung his sword at the rock with full force before I could say anything. I was afraid it would break, but the stone just lit up at the blade's touch, and a ripple of light spread outwards from it.

Suddenly, the dust on the rock vanished, and color rushed to the circle all the way to the cave walls. I spun around. The broken robots on the edges of the cave sprung back to life, carrying on moving and pushing the big boxes as though they had been alive and working all along.

My hand clapped to my mouth, and I whirled back around to look at Link, whose mouth had fallen open. "What the…"

"A report, Master Link," Fi's familiar voice said, and we both turned to look at her. "I am able to confirm that a time shift has occurred within this space."

"A time shift," Link repeated, looking around at all the robots buzzing around the cave. "So you mean…"

"Any impact to the blue stones creates a sustained temporal disruption field in the surrounding area. Readings show that this area is in a past time state."

"Then this is what this place looked like hundreds of years ago?" I asked.

"That is correct."

"Weird," Link breathed. I started towards one of the robots that was working at one of the boxes, keeping on the balls of my feet in case I needed to run away.

It suddenly whipped around to look at me. "Where did you come from, dzzzzt?" it said, without opening its mouth.

I blinked at it in surprise. "Um…"

"We're here collecting Timeshift stones and transporting them to Lanayru Mining Facility," it told me. Link had also come over to see it.

"Timeshift stones?" he said. "Is that what you call them?"

"Those are the blue stones, zrrpt," the robot said, but then looked between us. "Stay away from them. They're too dangerous for humans!"

"Right," Link said. He sounded just a little bit sarcastic.

"And try not to get in the way!" the robot added, turning around and going back to push the box. I noticed that the box was rolling on some black metal sticks in the ground. I started to bend down to look, but Link caught my arm and pulled me away.

"Look at this," he said, dragging me towards the cave opening. "The stone's effect only extends to a certain point. See?" We got to the mouth of the cave, and I saw a soft blue ring gliding over the ground just in front of it. Inside the cave, the rock looked dusty and old again, and there was another broken robot a few feet down.

"Oh," I said, looking at the robot who hadn't been close enough to get revived. "That's too bad…"

"Come on," Link said. "Let's move forward. Besides, I bet there are more of these stones inside."

We went into the cave and did see a few more blue stones, but none of them were as big as the one we had seen a moment ago. As it turned out, the smaller the stones were, the smaller the area was that got revived. The smaller ones we were able to pick up and carry, though, which was amusing.

Everything was mostly rock for a while, until we came to another big opening in the cave, with the ground covered in sand. "Wow," I said, getting down to put my finger in it. There was a little bit of sand around the bay and the water in the woods, but I had never seen this much, and I had never really seen any that that was this yellowish-brown color.

The texture was heavier too, and it felt a little bit like grainy mud. I got up and started forward on it, pausing and watching it seep between my toes every step. I giggled.

Link smiled at me, then tilted his head. "All right, don't get too distracted. We need to keep going."

"Okay." I started towards the flat rock he was standing on–actually, I only tried to. My foot wouldn't move.

I looked down. Both of my feet were gone, covered in sand all the way up to my ankles. I pulled, and suddenly, I felt myself drop and the sand crept halfway to my knee.

I frowned. "Link…"

"Hara, are you coming or…" He turned around and his eyes got wide. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose. I can't…" I tried again to pull my legs up. The sand got to my knees, and finally, I realized that it was very slowly getting closer and closer to the top of me. _No, wait, that means…_

My head snapped up to look at Link in panic. "I'm sinking…"

Link went to the edge of the rock, but then stopped, looking at the sand and swallowing. "Hara, stay calm," he told me. "Stop struggling. That will only make you sink faster."

"But…" I tried to do _something _with my legs, like kick or something, but they were useless. Like they had been turned to stone. The same came past my knees now. "What should I do?" I looked at him and tried not to feel afraid. "You know what to do, right?"

He swallowed. "It's okay. I'll just come over and pull you out."

"You'll sink too!"

"It's _okay_," he said again. "I won't sink. You only sank because you stood in the same spot for too long. I'll come over and stand on the rock near you and pull you out. You'll be fine."

I gulped uncertainly and looked down. The sand was almost up to my hips.

Link ran over to the other side and tried to pull me out by the arm, but it didn't work as well as he thought it would. The pulling stopped me from sinking for a bit but my legs still couldn't budge, and when he finally let go, the sand continued inching closer to my belly button.

I felt like crying. "Now what?" I said miserably, as sand seeped underneath my shirt. I was holding my arms above the sand, but it wouldn't be long before it got all the way up my body and to my neck and once it reached my chin…

I tried not to think about it, but tears started to well up in my arms anyway. "Hara, you're going to be fine," Link told me, but he looked pale and I wasn't sure I believed him. "I promise."

He stood up. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"I have another idea. I'll be back in a second."

"No!" I reached towards him with my arm. "Don't leave me!"

"I'll just be a second."

"Please!" He started backing towards the cavern we'd come out of, and this time I did start crying. "No, Link!"

"I'm coming back," he promised. "Hara, you have to calm down. Close your eyes, count to thirty, and by the time you're done I'll be back and I'll get you out of there. Can you do that?"

"I-I guess so…"

Link gave me what I think was supposed to be a smile, then turned around and disappeared into the cavern. I heaved a shaky breath and closed my eyes like he said to, and started to count softly to myself. "One...two…three… "

I couldn't help but notice that the sand was halfway up my stomach now. It would reach my shoulders soon and then I wouldn't be able to keep my arms above it for much longer…

I squeezed my eyes tighter. "...ten...eleven...twelve…"

My counting got slower, and even though I wasn't moving or struggling, I could still feel the sand creeping closer to my arms. "...fifteen...s...sixteen…"

I started to cry again. Wasn't he back yet? "...seventeen...eighteen…"

By the time I got to twenty-five, my entire body was shaking. "Twenty-six… t-twenty-seven… twenty-eight… twenty-nine…"

I paused. I still hadn't heard Link come back, and I knew he wasn't here, but I still hoped a little bit that if I said the last number he would magically appear. I whimpered. "...thirty…?"

I opened my eyes. I was still alone. The sand had reached my shoulders. I opened my mouth to yell for him, but sound wouldn't come out of my throat.

_Link, where are you?_


End file.
